Experiential Autochthony in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Gressier, Catie

doi:10.1080/00664677.2013.836957

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…However, research on non-belonging could enable critical analysis of the complex dimensions of belonging, such as its social and individual aspects, affective experiences, and structures of power. The study of non-belonging allows dealing with “how identity politics and discourses of belonging and exclusion are invoked as a means of access or a denial of rights to political power and economic resources,” as Gressier (2014: 6) notes. The analyses of non-belonging as simultaneously embodied, affectively felt, and socially constructed can be perceived as a means to overcome the traditional distinction between belonging as either a psychological or political process.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Belonging In Contemporary Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluidity and flexibility of “belonging”

et al. 2016

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Studies framing “belonging” as a key focus and a central concept of research have increased significantly in the 2000s. This article explores the dimensions of belonging as a scholarly concept. The investigation is based on a qualitative content analysis of articles published in academic journals covering a large number of different disciplines. The article poses and answers the following research questions: How is belonging understood and used in contemporary research? What added value does the concept bring to scholarly discussions? In the analysis, five topoi of conceptualizing belonging – spatiality, intersectionality, multiplicity, materiality, and non-belonging – were identified. After introducing the topoi, the article explores their cross-cutting dimensions, such as the emphasis on the political, emotional, and affective dimensions of belonging, and discusses key observations made from the data, such as the substantial proportion of research on minorities and “vulnerable” people. The analysis of the data suggests that by choosing to use the concept of belonging, scholars seek to emphasize the fluid, unfixed, and processual nature of diverse social and spatial attachments.

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Section: Conceptualizing Belonging In Contemporary Empirical Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluidity and flexibility of “belonging”

et al. 2016

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“…However, in colonized lands the autochthony beliefs of White settlers are not as straightforward as those of native majorities in Western Europe. From colonial times through to liberal democracies, White settlers have mobilized political discourses that portray themselves as first inhabitants who established settler colonies (Allsobrook & Boisen, 2017; Boisen, 2017; Crais, 1991; Gressier, 2014; Moreton-Robinson, 2015). At other times, however, they have recognized Indigenous groups as first inhabitants (Nooitgedagt, Martinović, et al, 2021).…”

Section: Autochthony Beliefs Among White Settlersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The strong ties that White settlers have fostered with settler colonies are a by-product of centuries of settler colonial conquest. Due to this historical connection, White settlers who permanently reside in settler colonies have claimed that they are entitled to recognition as autochthons (Gressier, 2014; Moreton-Robinson, 2015). White autochthony claims are based on beliefs that White settlers occupied essentially vacant and undeveloped land, which they developed into prosperous territory (Allsobrook & Boisen, 2017; Boisen, 2017; Crais, 1991).…”

Section: Autochthony Beliefs Among White Settlersmentioning

confidence: 99%

White settler ownership and dominance shape the consequences of autochthony beliefs on support for land reparations in South Africa.

Maseko,

Durrheim

2024

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology

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Evidence suggests White settlers' autochthony beliefs in historically colonized lands can both strengthen and weaken support for reparation measures. We propose that the divergent effect of autochthony beliefs on support for reparation measures is contingent on the perception of White settler ownership and preference for group-based hierarchies. In a single study with N = 807 White South Africans, we tested the moderation function of White settler ownership beliefs and preference for group-based hierarchies on the relationship between autochthony beliefs and support for land reparations. Results confirmed the hypothesis that endorsement of autochthony beliefs predicted stronger support for land reparation measures among respondents who perceived lower White settler ownership and preferred group-based equality. Our findings suggest that White settler ownership and social dominance orientation play a crucial role determining whether autochthony beliefs strengthen or weaken support for reparative measures in settler colonies. Public Significance StatementThis study provides formative evidence that shows how colonial injustices, like land dispossession, can be undone if White settlers embrace equality with Indigenous people and believe they own less of the settler colony. Our findings have implications for settler colonies that are trying to right the wrongs of colonization and apartheid, such as South Africa.

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“…Here we seek to counter suggestions that non‐Aboriginal Australian landed identities, and by extension ethnographic research that documents them, can be reduced to an expression of “settler triumph” (Gelder ) or merely a language of belonging “used to obfuscate the history of Aboriginal dispossession” (Garbutt :148). Findings from New Zealand (Dominy a, ), eastern Canada (Plaice ), and Botswana (Gressier ) offer support for this approach, the latter study making the case that “experiential autochthony” among “non‐indigenous” people can be “analytically rendered without threatening or appropriating indigenous identities” (Gressier :1). Just as Plains Cree First Nation communities and their White co‐residents in Canada negotiate culturally distinct yet overlapping emplaced identities (Braroe ), and Whites and Lakota Indians in the US state of South Dakota live in social worlds that are both discrete and interpenetrating (Wagoner :8,11), Aboriginal people and other Australians in the Gulf Country have engaged in both distinct place‐making and constrained exchanges of worldview.…”

Section: Indigeneity and Belonging In Postsettler Societiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Place, Indigeneity, and Identity in Australia's Gulf Country

Trigger

Martin

2016

American Anthropologist

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Land and location are central to the identities of those known colloquially as Blackfellas and Whitefellas in the Gulf region of northern Australia. Entwined spiritual and material features of "country" are significant in the ways indigenous people experience locations, encompassing intimate connections of persons in place for those with the greatest knowledge of classical cultural traditions. In contrast, for long-term residents descended from settlers, senses of emplaced identity derive from work experiences, confidence in the economic productivity of the land, and an appreciation of its "natural" and aesthetic qualities. However, these distinct relationships with place partially overlap through a shared history of working in the cattle industry. Our analysis of this complex social field addresses the intercultural relations that inform assumptions about belonging and identity following British colonization some 150 years ago. The challenge is to apprehend parallel yet highly differentiated understandings of the same landscape amid contestation over inherited indigenous connections with the land and the counterpoint of Whitefellas' established residence over multiple generations and attachment to property. Here we argue for the study of identity and place connections in postsettler societies to eschew any exclusive focus on either indigenous or settler histories and ontologies. [place, Aboriginal, indigeneity, settler, Australia] RESUMEN La tierra, y la localización son centrales a las identidades de aquellos conocidos coloquialmente como companegros y compablancos en la región del Golfo en el Norte de Australia. Características espirituales y materiales entrelazadas de "campo" son significativas en las formas como los indígenas viven los lugares, incluyendo conexionesíntimas de personas en su lugar para aquellos con el mayor conocimiento de las tradiciones culturales clásicas. En contraste, para los residentes de largo tiempo descendientes de los colonizadores, los sentidos de identidad emplazada derivan de las experiencias de trabajo, confianza en la productividad económica de la tierra, y una apreciación de sus cualidades "naturales" y estéticas. Sin embargo, estas distintas relaciones con el lugar parcialmente coinciden a través de una historia compartida de trabajo en la industria ganadera. Nuestro análisis de este complejo campo social aborda las relaciones interculturales que informan asunciones acerca del sentido de pertenencia e identidad después de la colonización británica hace unos 150 años. El reto es aprehender entendimientos paralelos sin embargo altamente diferenciados del mismo paisaje en medio de la contestación sobre conexiones con la tierra heredadas de los indígenas y el contrapunto de la residencia establecida de los compablancos sobre múltiples generaciones y el apego a la propiedad. Aquí argumentamos por el estudio de las conexiones de identidad y lugar en sociedades postcolonizadoras para evitar cualquier foco exclusivo en historias y ontologías indígenas o de colonizadores. [lugar, ...

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Experiential Autochthony in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Fluidity and flexibility of “belonging”

Fluidity and flexibility of “belonging”

White settler ownership and dominance shape the consequences of autochthony beliefs on support for land reparations in South Africa.

Place, Indigeneity, and Identity in Australia's Gulf Country

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