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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Ethnographic insights on rural sustainability: homestead design and permaculture of Eastern Cape settlements in South Africa
Author:Perry, Adam F.
Year:2013
Periodical:Africanus (ISSN 0304-615X)
Volume:43
Issue:1
Pages:115-125
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:sustainable agriculture
rural areas
Abstract:This article considers the prevalence of sustained agricultural practices, particularly large-scale homestead gardens, and questions current public debate that permaculture strategy is foreign to South Africa. The article is based on recent ethnographic work by the author in rural parts of the Eastern Cape. It makes comparisons with some of the founding principles of permaculture theory and practice to suggest that current agricultural practices and Xhosa homestead, 'umzi' (plural 'imizi'), settlement patterns follow closely to 'permaculture ideals' in theory and practice. The author critiques ideas that rural areas are to be 'de-agrarianized', or solely supported by the welfare State. A further critique is raised because of the idealized manner in which foreign ideas on development are esteemed as better than regional adaptations. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract, edited]
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