| Abstract: | Villages in rural Africa accommodate communities which used to depend on agriculture. In Botswana, agriculture is limited almost exclusively to animal husbandry, mainly the rearing of cattle and goats. Grazing land is generally poor and people were forced to move frequently in search of new pasture. A traditional village consisted of a group of homesteads organized around that of the chief. The chief's homestead, the 'kraal' (cattle enclosure), and the 'kgotla'(meeting place) were the only focal points in a village. This article takes the example of Maun, in northern Botswana, to illustrate the transformation of settlement or occupation patterns in traditional villages in Botswana since independence in 1966. Two patterns of change are distinguished: the growth of a modern structure over the fabric of traditional Maun, and changes within the traditional village fabric. Until 1972, there were basically two villages: traditional Maun, with a coherent fabric of traditional dwellings and some trading stores, and the beginning of modern Maun, with schools, offices, suburban style residential areas, and an airport. After 1972, a modern-style development evolved, with permanent commercial, governmental and residential functions, where all the main economic activity was concentrated, and this formed a dominant wedge in the fabric of the traditional village. Despite infrastructural improvements between 1986 and 1993, the traditional village is still underserviced, lacking coherence and social control, while the modern structure is not guided by sound urbanist principles and lacks a place of encounter on a village level. Notes, ref. |
AfricaBib 
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Leiden University catalogue
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