IKS and Gendered Ecologies

Abstract

Abstract Two geological fault lines mark the southernmost tip of the Great East African Rift Valley. An ancient tectonic uplift, or superswell, caused rifting down the spine of the African continent, which created the Okavango Delta, an endorheic (enclosed) wetland in Botswana. The huge and biodiverse waterbody is an anomaly, as it is surrounded by the otherwise arid Kalahari Desert. Part of this delta is known as the Panhandle. Despite evidence of the Anthropocene, the area teems with massive concentrations of wildlife. It is also home to a diverse post/colonial concentration of human inhabitants, some Indigenous. Each segment of this population has a unique relationship with the environment, informed by Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS), geopolitical hierarchies and the misogynistic politics of the post/colonial nation-state in which hegemonic patriarchies produce gendered ecologies. Through a breaking rank methodology, this paper explores the gendered ecologies and IKS of the post/colonial Panhandle community.