Climate, Conflict and Society: Changing Responses to Weather Extremes in Nineteenth Century Zululand (2018)
Jørgen Klein (Author)
David J. Nash (Author)
Kathleen Pribyl (Author)
Endfield, Georgina H. (Author)
Hannaford, Matthew J. (Author)
Environment and History
Volume: 24
Issue: 3
Pages: 377-401
Changing climates affect human societies differently depending on societal structures, cultural perceptions and their relative vulnerability and resilience. In this study, we explore the complex relationship between climate, conflict and society in nineteenth century Zululand. The paper first reviews current debates surrounding the links between climatic change, societal transformation and the rise of the Zulu Kingdom from the late-eighteenth to early-nineteenth centuries. It then considers new empirical evidence relating to conflict and socio-economic changes at a local scale in Zululand from the early-mid-nineteenth century onwards, using a combination of unpublished archival materials written by missionaries and other observers, together with oral histories and traditions. Our analysis highlights how changing precipitation patterns, especially towards drier conditions, may have contributed to changes in societal responses, including dominant narratives about rain-control, the migration and dissolution of society, and conflicts and unrest. We suggest that temporal differences in these responses were contingent upon the role of leaders, power structures, and the willingness and ability of leaders to yield this power. The case of nineteenth century Zululand exemplifies the complexity of environment-society interactions, and strengthens the call for a thorough scrutiny of the narratives of social unrest in specific socio-cultural contexts.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Book
Jeroen Oomen;
(2021)
Imagining Climate Engineering: Dreaming of the Designer Climate
(/isis/citation/CBB894445522/)
Article
Rohr, Christian;
(2005)
The Danube Floods and their Human Response and Perception (14th to 17th C)
(/isis/citation/CBB000931776/)
Article
Myron P. Gutmann;
(2018)
Beyond Social Science History: Population and Environment in the US Great Plains
(/isis/citation/CBB780470005/)
Article
Meredith McKittrick;
(2017)
Theories of “Reprecipitation” and Climate Change in the Settler Colonial World
(/isis/citation/CBB459811663/)
Book
Jeremy Davies;
(2016)
The Birth of the Anthropocene
(/isis/citation/CBB198861990/)
Essay Review
Lieberman, Victor;
(2011)
Essay review
(/isis/citation/CBB001500515/)
Article
Smith, Courtney Weiss;
(2012)
A “Foundation in Nature”: New Economic Criticism and the Problem of Money in 1690s England
(/isis/citation/CBB001201886/)
Book
William Beinart;
(2021)
The Scientific Imagination in South Africa
(/isis/citation/CBB421582004/)
Book
Isabella Consolati;
(2016)
La prospettiva geografica. Spazio e politica in Germania tra il 1815 e il 1871
(/isis/citation/CBB282160655/)
Article
Terdimou, Maria;
(2011)
Mathematics, Greek Trade and Technology during the Period of the Ottoman Rule: Three Mutually Connected Sectors
(/isis/citation/CBB001220640/)
Article
Ostrovskii, M. A.;
Sakina, N. L.;
Fedorovich, I. B.;
Chesnov, V. M.;
(2002)
Istoriia stanovleniia i razvitiia fiziologii organov chuvstv v Rossii
(/isis/citation/CBB000203000/)
Book
Jacob, Margaret C.;
Stewart, Larry;
(2004)
Practical Matter: Newton's Science in the Service of Industry and Empire, 1687--1851
(/isis/citation/CBB000550801/)
Book
Giorgio Dell'Oro;
(2021)
Mondi di carta. Materie prime, usi e commerci in età moderna (XVI-XIX secc.)
(/isis/citation/CBB940967542/)
Book
Mathur, Anuradha;
Cunha, Dilip da;
(2001)
Mississippi Floods: Designing a Shifting Landscape
(/isis/citation/CBB000650701/)
Article
Andreas W. Daum;
(2021)
Alexander von Humboldt am Rhein: Zur regionalen Grundlage von Humboldts Wissenschaft, Reisen und Politikverständnis 1789–1848
(/isis/citation/CBB013524907/)
Book
Lisa T. Sarasohn;
(2021)
Getting Under Our Skin: The Cultural and Social History of Vermin
(/isis/citation/CBB825215949/)
Book
Christina Rae Butler;
(2020)
Lowcountry at High Tide: A History of Flooding, Drainage, and Reclamation in Charleston, South Carolina
(/isis/citation/CBB376520456/)
Book
Yuriko Furuhata;
(2022)
Climatic Media: Transpacific Experiments in Atmospheric Control
(/isis/citation/CBB365768068/)
Book
White, P.J.;
Garrott, Robert A.;
Plumb, Glenn E.;
(2013)
Yellowstone's Wildlife in Transition
(/isis/citation/CBB001421443/)
Article
Iva Peša;
(2022)
A Planetary Anthropocene? Views From Africa
(/isis/citation/CBB209113037/)
Be the first to comment!