CONTESTED KAROO, interdisciplinary perspectives on change and continuity in South Africa's drylands

344pp., illus., maps, paperback, Cape Town, 2024

A collection of essays on significant land-use changes in South Africa’s semi-arid Karoo region and their implications for social justice and the environment.

Contributions include:

"Karoo 'dorpscapes': Social change and continuity in three small towns - Sutherland, Loeriesfontein and Vanwyksvlei" by Cherryl Walker and Jan Vorster

"Ongedierte: Commercial farmers, black-backed jackals and human-wildlife conflict around the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), 2016-2019" by Renelle Terblanche

"Conserving the Karoo: Traditional approaches, new developments, and future challenges" by M. Timm Hoffman and Lindsey Gillson

"A just transition in the Karoo? Renewable energy and the limits of job creation and community development in Loeriesfontein" by Boitumelo Malope

"Shale gas and sacrifice zones: Local perspectives on the costs and benefits of fracking the Central Karoo District of the Western Cape" by Mzingaye Brilliant Xaba.

Cherryl Walker is Emeritus Professor in Sociology and former NRF/DSI SARChI Research Chair in the Sociology of Land, Environment and Sustainable Development at Stellenbosch University.

M. Timm Hoffman is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and former Leslie Hill Chair of Plant Conservation at the University of Cape Town.