Historicising Natures, Cultures and Laws in the Etosha-Kunene Conservation Territories of Namibia

How can conservation of biodiversity-rich landscapes come to terms with the past [Vergangenheitsbewältigung], given historical contexts of extreme social exclusion and marginalisation?

How can key biodiversity areas whose global value rests on ahistorical ideas of Nature resist an uncritical presentism, to be better understood as entangled with diverse human histories and values?

How can conservation policy and practice recognise deep cultural and linguistic differences around 'the nature of nature'?

Our research responds to these questions through a cross-disciplinary humanities programme analysing dynamic dimensions of conservation territories in the Kunene Region of the former German colony that is now Namibia. Kunene's Etosha National Park and neighbouring beyond-Etosha conservation designations are home to diverse indigenous and marginalised peoples. Our research team of three women academics in Germany, the UK and Namibia has a combined 50+ years of ethnographic, archival, oral history and livelihoods enquiry in Etosha-Kunene. We propose a new collaborative three-year programme of six intersecting work packages (WPs):

WP1 on 'Historicising Socio-ecological Policy in Etosha-Kunene' offers a detailed discourse analysis and history of public conservation policy affecting natures and peoples associated with the region, interrogating shifting influences, interests and governance technologies;

WP2 on 'Comparative Indigenous Perspectives' assembles our long-term research in the region into a new comparative analysis of indigenous Khoe, San and Himba-Herero understandings of natures-beyond-the-human, drawing on current theories in the anthropology of nature;

WP3 on 'Making Identity and Indigeneity in Etosha-Kunene' explores how indigenous identities are made, focusing especially on how distinct and intersecting 'Khoe' and 'San' identities have been present(ed) in ethnographic, linguistic, conservation and legal discourse;

WP4 on 'Spatialising Coloniality in Etosha-Kunene' (re)traces the thought and practices of selected colonial European actors from the mid-1800s, bringing their written narratives into conversation with indigenous interlocutors inhabiting the same places and spaces (see WP2);

WP5 on 'Collecting, Curating and Returning Etosha-Kunene Natures' investigates how the natures of Etosha-Kunene have been both represented and shaped by natural history collections of specimen-artefacts assembled by the (mostly male) European actors we study in WP4;

WP6 focuses on public engagements, via a mobile exhibition, a website, and a series of workshops sharing and further exploring issues arising in WPs 1-5.

In sum, we offer a multivocal and radically historicised analysis of Etosha-Kunene that contributes new thinking on coloniality, indigeneity and 'natural history'. Our aim is to support conservation laws and praxis to more fully recognise the diversity of pasts, cultures and natures constituting this internationally-valued region.

Our research to historicise natures, cultures and laws in the high value conservation territories of Etosha-Kunene is designed to generate in-depth knowledge regarding changing conservation policy and its socioecological impacts. Through our multifaceted public engagement strategy (see Pathways to Impact statement), we intend to contribute beyond-academia understanding that is helpful to policymakers, conservation practitioners, local stakeholders and visitors to these conservation territories. Our broad communication strategy will include diverse learners and stakeholders - from schools to local natural resources management institutions - to help deepen understanding of interrelationships between nature conservation in postcolonial circumstances and the colonial contexts shaping the natures thus conserved. We especially intend our project to benefit the indigenous interlocuters engaged with in our research, so as to enhance diversity in the knowledges, narratives and values recognised as relevant to environmental conservation policies and proposals.

In responding to these intentions we will engage in a series of impact-related activities as mechanisms for how our intended beneficiaries may access and benefit from our research. These include:

- Collating and sharing our research activities, findings and outputs through a project website (provisionally www.etosha-kunene-histories.net) and bespoke social media accounts.

- Organising and hosting a workshop at the mid-point of our project that brings together researchers and stakeholders in Project 04 'Future Conservation' in CRC 228 "Future Rural Africa" (see https://www.crc228.de/projects/project_a04/) at the University of Cologne who are studying the similarly scaled-up conservation area of Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area (north-east Namibia). This event will enable us to maximise possibilities for co-learning and will be designed to encourage pathways for multi-way learning through including conservation practitioners, policymakers and local stakeholders in Namibia.

- Creation of a mobile public exhibition in year 3 that is both physical and online, combining and juxtaposing content from across our research and accompanied by an accessible explanatory booklet available in print and online. This exhibition will take place in Namibia and will constitute a focus for public engagement and outreach, to especially local communities in and around Etosha-Kunene, schools in rural and urban settings and third sector organisations. Its purpose will be to both communicate findings from our research regarding changes to and impacts of conservation policy in Etosha-Kunene, and to receive additional perspectives from varied visitors to the exhibition.

- Production of accessible locally printed publications including:

i. an accessible locally printed policy-oriented publication detailing the chronology and analysis of Etosha-Kunene conservation policy pursued in WP1, developed and shared with stakeholders and policy actors through the Ministry of Environment and Tourism's Nature Conservation Board, of which the Namibian Co-I is a member. This publication will complement a publicly accessible online policy chronology that will be updated throughout the course of the project;

ii. compilation of an annotated and illustrated 'catalogue' of selected natural history specimen-artefacts and the circumstances of their collection combined with mapping of their provenance in Etosha-Kunene, building on the research developed in WPs4&5. This publication is intended for a range of audiences, including policymakers, relevant third sector organisations, communities and schools/students.

- Production of a professional film and additional moving image film installation(s) to be used in multiple engagement pathways - from broadcast on national TV in Namibia to installations in our project exhibition - so as reach both new understandings and new audiences.