'To kill the locusts, but not destroy the farmers': officials, farmers and the plagues of Pharaoh, c. 1920-1935

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	'To kill the locusts, but not destroy the farmers': officials, farmers and the plagues of Pharaoh, c. 1920-1935
Author:	Van der Watt, Lize-Marié
Year:	2010
Periodical:	South African Historical Journal (ISSN 0258-2473)
Volume:	62
Issue:	2
Pages:	356-383
Language:	English
Geographic term:	South Africa
Subjects:	insects pest control social history Afrikaners farmers
External link:	https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582473.2010.493008
Abstract:	Of all the agricultural pests farmers in the Union of South Africa had to endure, few evoked such strong, visceral, and often highly personal debates within the Afrikaner farming community as locust plagues. As a contribution to the dialogue between historians who have explored science, farmers and State intervention in agriculture within the broader theme of agricultural pests, this article seeks to add to the socio-environmental history of Afrikaners within the context of the southern African environment. It discusses the explicitly scientific, entomological issues, including the knowledge exchange process, and then turns towards the political themes on macro as well as micro level. Finally, it examines the more ephemeral themes of religious and racial identity as highlighted by the locust infestations. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]