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Green lands for white men : desert dystopias and the environmental origins of apartheid  Cover Image Book Book

Green lands for white men : desert dystopias and the environmental origins of apartheid / Meredith McKittrick.

Summary:

"A compelling and timely history, Green Lands for White Men explores how white farmers in southern Africa grappled with arid environments and climate change as they sought to consolidate white dominance over the Black majority. In the early twentieth century, white southern Africans engaged in bitter disputes over the reality of climate change and its consequences. Many whites argued that rainfall was declining and that if they did not do something about it, the subcontinent would become a desert and white civilization in the region would collapse. The believers in climate apocalypse found their savior in Ernest Schwarz, a geology professor who promised that diverting rivers into the Kalahari would restore southern Africa's once-rainy climate, creating newly greened lands for the settlement of millions of whites and securing the future of a 'white man's country' in Africa. Green Lands for White Men uses the story of this popular (though fortunately unrealized) attempt to engineer southern Africa's climate and racial order to examine the agrarian roots of apartheid in the mid-twentieth century. We live in a time of growing climate catastrophe, public mistrust of scientific experts, and emboldened white nationalism. In this book we witness this on another continent and in another century and see how these apparently unrelated factors came together to reinforce a worldview that proved highly resistant to argumentation and challenge by scientists"-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780226831800
  • ISBN: 0226831809
  • ISBN: 9780226834696
  • ISBN: 0226834697
  • Physical Description: 321 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.
  • Publisher: Chicago, IL : The University of Chicago Press, 2024.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:
Lost lakes and vanished rivers -- The origins of rain -- The invading desert -- White men's fears -- Watering the white man's land -- "The Kalahari dream" -- Redemption reimagined -- Afterlives -- Epilogue.
Subject: Schwarz, E. H. L. (Ernest Hubert Lewis), 1873-1928.
Reclamation of land > South Africa > History > 20th century.
Reclamation of land > Political aspects > South Africa.
Irrigation farming > South Africa > History > 20th century.
Climatic changes > South Africa > History > 20th century.
White people > South Africa > Economic conditions > 20th century.
Climatology > Political aspects > South Africa.
Water diversion > South Africa > History > 20th century.
Améliorations foncières > Afrique du Sud > Histoire > 20e siècle.
Améliorations foncières > Aspect politique > Afrique du Sud.
Culture irriguée > Afrique du Sud > Histoire > 20e siècle.
Climat > Changements > Afrique du Sud > Histoire > 20e siècle.
Personnes blanches > Afrique du Sud > Conditions économiques > 20e siècle.
Dérivation (Travaux publics) > Afrique du Sud > Histoire > 20e siècle.
South Africa > Race relations.
Kalahari Desert.
Afrique du Sud > Relations raciales.

Available copies

  • 1 of 1 copy available at Homer Library. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Homer Library System. (Show)
  • 1 of 1 copy available at Homer Public Library.

Holds

  • 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Homer Public Library 631.587096 MCK (Text) 000176150 New Books Available -


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