Böcker av Ute Dieckmann

How can we map differing perceptions of the living environment? Mapping the Unmappable? explores the potential of cartography to communicate the relations of Africa's indigenous peoples with other human and non-human actors within their environments. These relations transcend Western dichotomies such as culture-nature, human-animal, natural-supernatural. The volume brings two strands of research - cartography and »relational« anthropology - into a closer dialogue. It provides case studies in Africa as well as lessons to be learned from other continents (e.g. North America, Asia and Australia). The contributors create a deepened understanding of indigenous ontologies for a further decolonization of maps, and thus advance current debates in the social sciences.

The Etosha Region in Namibia, comprising the famous Etosha National Park and its adjacent communal and commercial farm lands, has been a conte step region since the advent of colonial settlement. The centenary of the Etosha Park in 2007 provided an opportune moment for critical reflection on its history, a much-needed appraisal achieved by this book through its multiple perspectives. At the centre of this book are the Hai||om San and their long history of the dispossession and discrimination. Ute Dieckmann analyses with care the historical transformations. These were linked not only to the creation of the one of the largest nature conservation areas in Africa but also to the establishment of a settler state and society.