Inkcubeko Nendalo: a bio-cultural diversity schools education project in South Africa and its implications for inclusive Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) Sustainability.
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Alexander, Jamie K , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2013
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141187 , vital:37951 , DOI: 10.1177/0973408212475232
- Description: South Africa is currently the world’s third most biodiverse country, with one of the highest concentrations of threatened biodiversity in the world. Emerging research reveals the increasing pressure on this biodiversity with many wild resources continuing to be utilised for livelihood purposes even within urban environments. The Rio conventions, particularly the CBD, call for an integrated approach to conservation that incorporates local environmental knowledge and practices. In a bid to market itself as globally competitive, South Africa’s Curriculum 2005 (C 2005) is primarily focused on Western-based scientific knowledge, which sidelines the contribution of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) and ignores the holistic nature of indigenous worldviews. The Inkcubeko Nendalo programme is designed to revitalise cultural identity, showing children the value of local indigenous knowledge and cultural environmental values.
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- Date Issued: 2013
'God is my forest': Xhosa cultural values provide untapped opportunities for conservation
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P , Vetter, Susan M
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141198 , vital:37952 , DOI: 10.4102/sajs.v108i5/6.880
- Description: In South Africa conservation is still largely framed in terms of Western scientific values, with a focus on material benefits to local communities, whilst little is known about the intangible values local people attach to nature and biodiversity. We explored the cultural, spiritual and emotional relationships with nature expressed by Xhosa people, within the MaputalandPondoland-Albany Hotspot, as well as the activities that mediate this relationship. A descriptive research approach was applied to document the emotions, meanings and values associated with landscape elements. This approach included group and individual interviews and ‘walk-in-the-woods’ interviews and participatory mapping exercises. Respondents portrayed a strong, although not always easily articulated, appreciation for nature, especially ihlathi lesiXhosa (‘Xhosa forest’, vegetation types within the Thicket Biome).
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- Date Issued: 2012
A new broom sweeps clean: the economic and cultural value of grass brooms in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141382 , vital:37967 , DOI: 10.1080/14728028.2004.9752477
- Description: In southern Africa over the last twenty years, much attention has been given to the importance of NTFPs for rural livelihoods through their household consumption and sale. They have been classified as having either subsistence consumption or commercial values. These values are mostly related to their utilitarian functions, but recent studies show that NTFPs also hold strong cultural functions. Such cultural functions can play a role in both rural and urban livelihoods; consequently the values of NTFPs may be related to both utilitarian and cultural functions. This paper demonstrates the cultural functions of grass brooms in urban areas in South Africa and the impact of their trade on income generation in rural areas, and discusses the concept of culture as a significant factor in the understanding of the role of NTFPs in livelihoods, and their values.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Perceptions and values of local landscapes: implications for the conservation of biocultural diversity and intangible heritage
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141442 , vital:37972 , ISBN 9789086867493 , DOI: 10.3920/978-90-8686-749-3_10
- Description: South Africa is widely recognised as a highly diverse country with regard to its people, culture, landscapes, biological resources and ecology. The importance of policies on protecting cultural diversity and how they relate to the environment is only just emerging at an international level, but in South African we find there is a complete lack of institutional support for rural communities’ attachment to local landscapes. The main objective of this case study is to improve our understanding of the meanings and values that Xhosa people (amaXhosa) of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa attach to their natural landscapes. It is clear that the amaXhosa are still intrinsically connected to their natural environment, in particular the thicket biome that is called ihlathi yesiXhosa (Xhosa forest). Access to places and spaces within the natural environment provides a sense of wellbeing, a link to ancestral spirits, a location for religious rituals, plus a wealth of culturallyinspired uses of specific species and sacred places in the landscape. We suggest that local cultural values could be incorporated into the formal conservation process.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Voices from the forest: celebrating nature and culture in Xhosaland
- Authors: Dold, Anthony P , Cocks, Michelle L
- Date: 2012
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141427 , vital:37971 , ISBN 9781431402991 , https://www.amazon.com/Voices-Forest-Celebrating-Culture-Xhosaland/dp/1431402990
- Description: The link between people and nature is explored in this fascinating book, revealing how plants, animals, and landscapes are profoundly reflected in South Africa’s Xhosa language, stories, poetry, religious rituals, healing practices, and everyday customs. While the South African landscape has for centuries been molded and manipulated by humans, the country and its plants and animals have in turn influenced South Africans’ cultural and spiritual development. Based on 10 years of research, it consists of unique photographs that portray how both contemporary rural and urban South Africans still find great value in nature. A fresh, positive approach to biodiversity conservation, this volume serves as a guide to sustainable practices in the future.
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- Date Issued: 2012
Cultural importance of non-timber forest products: opportunities they pose for bio-cultural diversity in dynamic societies
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , López, Citlalli , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2011
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141453 , vital:37973 , ISBN 9783642179822 , DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-17983-9_5
- Description: There is an increasing awareness that monetary value does not fully represent the complete value and significance of NTFPs. Consequently, there is growing interest in the cultural dimensions of biodiversity and the role that it plays in human well-being. This chapter presents two case studies, one on traditional brooms in South Africa, and the other on amate paper in Mexico, to demonstrate the importance of cultural values on driving demand for NTFPs. Because cultural values are so deeply embedded, the demand for culturally valued NTFPs continue across the rural-urban divide, and are maintained even by modernising urban communities. This poses particular challenges, not only for conservation of the NTFPs, but also to sustain cultural diversity in a rapidly changing world.
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- Date Issued: 2011
Cultivation of medicinal plants as a tool for biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation in the Amatola region, South Africa:
- Authors: Wiersum, K Freerk , Dold, Anthony P , Husselman, Madeleen , Cocks, Michelle L
- Date: 2010
- Language: English
- Type: text , book
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141489 , vital:37979 , ISBN 9781402054488 , https://library.wur.nl/ojs/index.php/frontis/issue/view/232
- Description: This paper describes the assumptions and results of a study to assess whether cultivation of medicinal plants can serve as a tool for combined biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. The study was carried out in the Amatola region of Eastern Cape, South Africa, where sustained beliefs in medicinal plant use, also under non-traditional conditions, has resulted in an increase in commercial demands. It was based on the assumption of poverty alleviation not only referring to an increase in income and labour, but also an increase in social capital and human dignity. The study assessed the local perceptions of the use and cultivation of medicinal plants and the need for conservation of these plants, as well as the features of already ongoing cultivation practices and options for increased cultivation. It consisted of participatory assessments in three villages involving around 250 persons and participatory trials with 14 rural women selling medicinal plants on urban markets. The study indicated that the growing demand for medicinal plants is related to the great cultural significance attached to medicinal plants.
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- Date Issued: 2010
The Cultural Use of the Wild Olive Tree by the amaXhosa People in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa:
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2008
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141314 , vital:37961 , DOI: 10.1558/jsrnc.v2i3.292
- Description: The cultural meanings of harvested plants have for the most part been ignored in academic research on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in southern Africa. Historically scientists have tended to ignore the complex relationships between nature and culture. Given the country's unique political and economic past and the current search for sustainable use of natural resources, a focus on the convergence of natural science and cultural diversity is important at this time. Empirical data on cultural practices is being collected in order to develop fresh and relevant insights into the complex relationships between culture and bítKÜversity. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the concept of culture needs to be brought into our understanding of the role of NTFPs. We dtxrument the use and value of a specific tree, Olea europaea L. subsp. africana (Mill.) P,S. Green, called Umiicjuma in the Xhosa language, for cultural purposes, by both rural and urban households.
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- Date Issued: 2008
Cultural significance of biodiversity: the role of medicinal plants in urban African cultural practices in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141338 , vital:37963 , DOI: 10.2993/0278-0771(2006)26[60:CSOBTR]2.0.CO;2
- Description: Since the International Convention on Biodiversity in 1992 conservation biologists, ecologists and conservationists have devoted considerable attention to the conservation of biodiversity. With this has come the realization that solutions to biological problems often lie in the mechanisms of social, cultural, and economic systems. This shift has emphasized the relationship between biodiversity and human diversity, or what the Declaration of Belem (1988) calls an “inextricable link” between biological and cultural diversity. The term biocultural diversity was introduced by Posey to describe the concept denoting this link. To date this concept has been used only in reference to “indigenous people” who, as part of their traditional lifestyles, use biodiversity to sustain their cultural identity. Our research, however, demonstrates that Xhosa people (amaXhosa) living in an urban context in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa continue to use wild plants for cultural purposes and often access these through commercial trade. We suggest that recognition of the cultural and spiritual values associated with wild plants would greatly enhance biodiversity conservation efforts. Recognition of the significant role that wild plants play in fulfilling cultural needs for urban Xhosa people would go a long way towards achieving this.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Izaci namaqhalo esiXhosa: Xhosa idioms and proverbs referring to plants
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141326 , vital:37962 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC112940
- Description: Converging with the ecological extinction crisis, the planet has been experiencing a severe erosion of the diversity of human cultures and languages, reducing the pool of knowledge, behaviors and values from which individual communities and humanity at large can draw to respond to social and environmental stresses.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Mlanjeni's war charms: Ikhubalo likaMlanjeni
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2006
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141349 , vital:37964 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC112911
- Description: Most South Africans are familiar with lucky charms such as the four leaved clover of European origin, the Hamsa Hand (Arabic) or Hamesh Hand (Hebrew), the Hindu lucky elephant representing Ganesha, son of Siva, or the African ikhubalo. Amakhubalo refer to charms, often of plant origin, that have magical powers to ward off danger or to bring good luck. Charm plants are used almost everywhere in the Eastern Cape to ensure health, luck and success in sporting events, business, courtship, legal proceedings, safety against accidents and crime and protection against jealousy and sorcery.
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- Date Issued: 2006
Imbhola yesiXhosa traditional Xhosa cosmetics:
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P
- Date: 2005
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141370 , vital:37966 , http://pza.sanbi.org/sites/default/files/info_library/imbhola_yesixhosa_pdf.pdf
- Description: Plants have been used for cosmetic purposes since time immemorial. The earliest known cosmetics come from the First Dynasty of Egypt, about 3100-2907 BC. Since the ancient Egyptians who used olive oil perfumed with aromatic plants to keep their skin supple, humans have been using plant extracts for cleansing and beautifying purposes.
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- Date Issued: 2005
A new broom: feature
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P , Sizane, Nomtunzi
- Date: 2004
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141404 , vital:37969 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC112779
- Description: Traditional grass brooms keep certain cultural practices alive in urban areas and provide rural people with a means to earn an income.
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- Date Issued: 2004
Challenges facing a community structure to implement CBNRM in the Eastern Cape, South Africa:
- Authors: Cocks, Michelle L , Dold, Anthony P , Grundy, Isla
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/141416 , vital:37970 , http://asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Cocks-Dold-Grundy-Vol-5-Issue-3.pdf
- Description: In most developing countries, community based natural resource management (CBNRM) initiatives have been adopted in an attempt to address the issue of environmental sustainability. This has largely come about due to an increasing recognition of the ineffectiveness of the state to achieve such sustainability. Within the South African context, recent policies have been drafted that aim to achieve these outcomes, which strongly articulate the need for the participation of local people in the management of natural resources both within communal areas and on state-owned land. The objectives of new policies, however, are not being met in the Eastern Cape of South Africa for the following key reasons: the insufficient recognition of the impact of past historical and political upheavals experienced within the former homelands’ situation; the government’s inability to process land applications; the government’s lack of ability and capacity to implement these policies; and frustratingly high levels of hierarchy at both the local and national level. The Masakane community, a group of former farm workers from the former Ciskei homeland in South Africa, are attempting to implement CBNRM initiatives. The Masakane case study reveals the urgent need to develop, implement and enforce new institutional and managerial arrangements, because without such arrangements state policies are unlikely to be implemented at the grassroots level.
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- Date Issued: 2001