Abstract
Critical scholars have started analysing conservation as a ‘mode of production’, which entails conservation’s inclination to transform the value of nature into capital. This mode of production is underpinned by labour relations that have thus far escaped systematic analysis. To fill this gap, I use Smiths’ reading of the capitalist production of space to develop the concept of conservation labour geographies which untangles the spatial outcomes of the dialectical relation between the production of conservation space and labour. The concept is concretized through an analysis of the historical development of the private wildlife economy in the Lowveld area of South Africa. Through this case study I argue that private nature reserves subsume communal and state properties -beyond its fence- into exploitative symbiotic conservation labour geographies. I do this by firstly demonstrating that conservation labour geographies are an outcome of the historical production of conservation space because the development of the private wildlife economy in the Lowveld reinforced geographical differentiation by reproducing a spatialized and racialised division of labour. Secondly, I show that these labour geographies are characterised by the unpaid reproductive work of spouses and in-laws, traumatised rangers, and a racially segregated landscapes within the reserve and between the reserves and the former Bantustans. Finally, I conclude by proposing ‘conservation labour geographies’ as an analytical tool to unpack the interrelations between labour and the production of conservation spaces.
Highlights
Questions about labour in conservation have far escaped a systematic analysis because nature conservation has often been framed in opposition to extractive forms of industry (Sodikoff, 2009)
Conservation labour geographies are an outcome of the history of the production of conservation space
This section discusses the develop ment of the private wildlife economy from the 1920s to illustrate how the production of conservation space as we know it today is tied to the creation of labour before and during the apartheid era
Summary
Questions about labour in conservation have far escaped a systematic analysis because nature conservation has often been framed in opposition to extractive forms of industry (Sodikoff, 2009). For the scope of this paper this in cludes, but is not limited to; rangers, anti-poaching units, tour guides, security guards, maintenance and hospitality staff The latter has been dealt with in tourism literature (Ivanov, 2020; Cave and Kilic, 2010), nature reserves across the world depend on rev enue generated from eco-tourism where hospitality staff expend their labour power to produce conservation commodities such as experiences. This analysis is premised on the notion that the capitalist production of space intertwines the production of labour. I conclude by proposing con servation labour geographies as a way of making sense of the relation between the production of conservation space and the production of labour
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