Abstract
The construction of Kariba Dam in 1958 ignited a legacy of livelihood insecurity and chronic liminality that reverberated through subsequent generations. A community under one chief was split into two marginal resettlement sites more than 200 km apart. Sixty years after the dam's construction, and following a series of cyclical shifts between access to and alienation from international development programming, the World Bank has returned to initiate the new Bottom Road, which at last reconnects these two communities. It has also released funds for a new irrigation development and support program. Research presented here suggests that, while the Bottom Road is spurring economic growth, it is also delivering capitalized outsiders, eager to claim land and water resources from long-resident Gwembe Tonga farmers. Analysis of two commercial agriculture/irrigation schemes, at the road's southern and northern terminuses, reveals that new infrastructure often leads to rapid natural resource alienation and livelihood upheaval. Integrating the lens of chronic liminality with the hydrosocial cycle, we situate these projects within a broader regional history of land and water privatization and reveal how water-linked development interventions produce vulnerabilities for particular segments of the local population.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 250-263 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Economic Anthropology |
| Volume | 6 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jun 2019 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2019 by the American Anthropological Association.
Funding
Albion College, Thayer Scudder, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Kentucky, and the National Science Foundation (grant BCS-1736413) supported this research. Thanks go to the Gwembe residents and research assistants who facilitated this research; the University of Zambia and Zambia Land Alliance colleagues who encouraged it; and the students who assisted us, including Pasama Cole-Kweli, Chelsea Cutright, Alyssa Farmer, Lorraine Smith, Brittany Stanfield, Eryn Star, Dayton Starnes, Maryam Syed, and Allyson White. Economic Anthropology editors and three anonymous reviewers provided valued feedback. Finally, we honor the late Elizabeth Colson for her immense contributions toward our understanding of the socioeconomic and political dynamics of Gwembe life. Albion College, Thayer Scudder, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Kentucky, and the National Science Foundation (grant BCS‐1736413) supported this research. Thanks go to the Gwembe residents and research assistants who facilitated this research; the University of Zambia and Zambia Land Alliance colleagues who encouraged it; and the students who assisted us, including Pasama Cole‐Kweli, Chelsea Cutright, Alyssa Farmer, Lorraine Smith, Brittany Stanfield, Eryn Star, Dayton Starnes, Maryam Syed, and Allyson White. editors and three anonymous reviewers provided valued feedback. Finally, we honor the late Elizabeth Colson for her immense contributions toward our understanding of the socioeconomic and political dynamics of Gwembe life. Economic Anthropology
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Zambia Land Alliance | |
| University of Zambia | |
| Lorraine Smith | |
| Allyson White | |
| University of Kentucky | |
| California Institute of Technology | |
| Brittany Stanfield, Eryn Star | |
| National Science Foundation Arctic Social Science Program | BCS‐1736413 |
Keywords
- Chronic Liminality
- Hydrosocial Cycle
- Irrigation
- Kariba Dam
- Political Ecology
- Roads
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Anthropology
- Economics and Econometrics
