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Adaptive Livelihood Strategies in Conservation-Induced Displacement: The Case of the Baka of East Cameroon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 2015

Harrison Esam Awuh
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Abstract:

This article utilizes the Actor‒Network Theory (ANT) to guide thinking about the relationship between nature and society and how this relationship is severed by conservation-induced displacement. ANT’s view of interconnectivity between networks is used to argue that a network is only stable as long as actors remain faithful to it. In the case of the displaced Baka people of the Dja Reserve area in East Cameroon, resistance to conservation through adaptive practices following displacement can reverse or disrupt the socially predetermined order of a network, which in this case would be marginalization of the displaced. However, the marginal scale of their adaptation to change raises doubts over the sustainability of adaptation to post-displacement livelihoods.

Résumé:

Cet article utilise la théorie de l’acteur-réseau (Actor‒Network Theory = ANT) pour éclairer la réflexion sur la relation entre la nature et la société et comment ce lien est rompu par les déplacements induits par les exigences de la préservation de l’environnement. Le point de vue sur l'interconnectivité entre réseaux dans le cadre la théorie de l’acteur-réseau est utilisé pour affirmer qu'un réseau n'est stable que tant que les acteurs lui restent fidèles. Dans le cas des peuples Baka qui furent déplacés de la Réserve du Dja dans l’Est du Cameroun, la résistance à la préservation de l’environnement, grâce à des pratiques adaptatives après le déplacement, montre que l'ordre social prédéterminé d’un réseau peut être renversé ou perturbé, ce qui dans ce cas représenterait une marginalisation des personnes déplacées. Toutefois, la faible ampleur de leur adaptation au changement soulève des doutes quant à la viabilité de l'adaptation pour la survie suite à un déplacement.

Keywords

ConservationdisplacementadaptationActor‒Network TheoryBakaEast Cameroon
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , September 2015 , pp. 135 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2015 

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