Peasants, ecology and the state: food security in the Lake Chilwa Basin of Southern Malawi, 1891 - 1994
| dc.contributor.advisor | Masakure, Clement | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Muller, Cornelis | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Daimon, Anusa | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Nkhoma, Bryson Gwiyani | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-01-08T12:29:48Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-01-08T12:29:48Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2018 | en_ZA |
| dc.description | Thesis (Ph.D.(Africa Studies))--University of the Free State, 2018 | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | 𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 This study explores the history of peasants’ experiences in relation to state interventions into Malawi’s rural food economy from 1891 to 1994. Using the case of the Lake Chilwa basin of southern Malawi, it investigates the extent to which peasants maintained food security in the face of political, economic and ecological changes during the period of study. Despite its political and economic power, the study contends, the state was not always all-powerful or monolithic in executing its food security interventions in the country. Nor did the peasants constantly express their agency in isolation from the state. Instead, the state-peasants relations were complex, dynamic and contested. Furthermore, while colonialism disrupted African economies, its impact on peasants’ food security varied with place, time, gender and class, such that in some respects, it created an environment conducive for the maintenance of food security among the peasants. The study argues further that relations between the state and the peasants over matters of food did not occur in isolation from global changes. Nor were the relations simply ‘acted upon’ by international forces. While ecological changes and periodic droughts were critical for peasants’ food security, their impacts in the Chilwa basin were accentuated largely by the political, economic and social circumstances of the times. This thesis, therefore, contributes to the burgeoning literature on food security, agriculture and ecology. This literature predominantly placed peasants’ everyday experiences of food production and consumption at the forefront in the face of droughts, hunger and famine, but paid little attention to the interventions made by the state to complement or degrade pre-existing food security practices in rural Malawi. ___________________________________________________________________ | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | 𝑨𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒂𝒏𝒔 Hierdie studie ondersoek die geskiedenis van kleinboere se ervarings met betrekking tot staatsintervensies in die landelike voedsel ekonomie in Malawi vanaf 1891 tot 1994. Deur gebruik te maak van die geval van Chilwa-meer in die suide van Malawi, ondersoek dit die mate waartoe kleinboere in landelike Malawi voedselsekuriteit onderhou het te midde van politieke, ekonomiese en ekologiese veranderinge gedurende die tydperk van die studie. Die vernaamste bewering van hierdie proefskrif is dat die staat, ondanks sy politieke en ekonomiese mag, nie almagtig of monolities was in die uitvoering van sy voedselbeveiligingsintervensies in die land nie. Die kleinboere het ook nie hul agentskap in isolasie van die staat beoefen nie. Inteendeel was staat en kleinboer verhoudings dinamies en betwis. Terwyl kolonialisme die Afrika-ekonomieë ontwrig het, het die impak daarvan op boere se voedselsekuriteit gewissel van plek, tyd, gender en klas, en dit het in sommige opsigte 'n omgewing geskep wat voedselveiligheid onder kleinboere bervorder het. Dit dui verder daarop dat die verhoudings tussen die staat en die kleinboere rondom voedsel nie geïsoleerd van globale veranderinge plaasgevind het nie en interne rolspelers het ook nie slegs net daarop ‘gereageer’ nie. Terwyl ekologiese veranderinge en periodieke droogtes krities was vir kleinboere se voedselsekuriteit, is hulle impak in die Chilwa-meer grootliks beklemtoon deur die politiese, ekonomiese en sosiale omstandighede van die tyd. Deur hierdie argument te maak, dra die tesis by tot die ontluikende literatuur oor voedselsekuriteit, landbou en ekologie. Hierdie literatuur het kleinboere se alledaagse ervarings van voedselproduksie en verbruik te midde van droogtes, honger en hongersnood op die voorgrond geplaas, maar het min aandag gegee aan die intervensies wat deur die staat gemaak is om voorafbestaande praktyke van voedselsekuriteit in landelike Malawi te ondersteun of te komplimenteer. ___________________________________________________________________ | af_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/11660/12919 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.publisher | Abstract in other languages 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘢𝘢𝘯𝘴 | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | University of the Free State | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Ecology | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Food security | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Malawi | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Rural development | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Lake Chilwa | en_ZA |
| dc.subject | Rural food economy | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Peasants, ecology and the state: food security in the Lake Chilwa Basin of Southern Malawi, 1891 - 1994 | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis |