Onderwijstype
Masterclass: Development of rural communities: Evidence for decline and resilience
In the morning session Prof Beinart will focus in a short introductory talk on a case study of smallholders in South Africa, discuss the historical background, and contrast evidence for decline and resilience. He will also talk about the implications for land reform and state intervention. Drawing on cases presented by participants, we hope to develop discussion along these themes – including the problems of top down interventions in pursuit of development of rural communities.
William Beinart was Rhodes Professor of Race Relations from 1997 to 2015. The position was established in 1953 to research and teach on ‘race relations’ with special reference to southern Africa. It has become an African Studies post. He was chair of the Board of the Journal of Southern African Studies (1992-8), Director of the African Studies Centre at Oxford (2002-6 and 2014-5), co-chair of the School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies (SIAS, 2006-8), President of the African Studies Association of the UK (2008-10) and Director of Graduate Studies at the African Studies Centre (2009-13). In 2009 he was elected to the British Academy.
In retirement he is maintaining connection with some Centre initiatives and also continuing to write and research.
Selected Publications
Beinart, W. 1982, The political economy of Pondoland, 1860-1930, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beinart, W. 1984, 'Soil Erosion, Conservationism and Ideas about Development: a Southern African Exploration, 1900-1960', Journal of Southern African Studies, 11 (1): 52-83.
Beinart, W. 1988, 'Agrarian historiography and agrarian reconstruction', in South Africa in Question, ed. J. JLondsdale, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beinart, W. 1989, 'Introduction: The Politics of Colonial Conservation', Journal of Southern African Studies, 15 (2, special issue on the politics of conservation in Southern Africa): 143-62.
Beinart, W. 1990, 'Empire, Hunting and Ecological Change in Southern and Central Africa', Past and Present, 128: 162-86.
Beinart, W. 1992, 'Introduction: Political and Collective Violence in Southern African Historiography', Journal of Southern African Studies, 18 (3): 455-86.
Beinart, W. 1992, 'Transkeian Smallholders and Agrarian Reform', Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 11 (2): 178-99.
Beinart, W. 1994, 'Farmers' Strategies and Land Reform in the Orange Free State', Review of African Political Economy, 21 (61): 389-402.
Beinart, W. 1996, 'Soil Erosion, Animals & Pasture over the long term. Environmental Destruction in Southern Africa ', in The lie of the land: challenging received wisdom on the African environment, eds. M. Leach and R. Mearns, Oxford: James Currey.
Beinart, W. 1998, 'Men, Science, Travel and Nature in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century Cape', Journal of Southern African Studies, 24 (4): 775-99.
Beinart, W. 2000, 'African History and Environmental History', African Affairs, 99 (395): 269-302.
Beinart, W. 2001, Twentieth-Century South Africa. New Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Beinart, W. 2003, The Rise of Conservation in South Africa. Settlers, Livestock, and the Environment 1770-1950, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Beinart, W. 2007, 'Transhumance, Animal Diseases and Environment in the Cape, South Africa', South African Historical Journal, 58 (1): 17-41.
Beinart, W. 2012, 'Beyond ‘Homelands’: Some Ideas about the History of African Rural Areas in South Africa', South African Historical Journal, 64 (1): 5-21.
Beinart, W. 2014, 'A Century of Migrancy from Mpondoland', African Studies, 73 (3): 387-409.
Beinart, W., Brown, K. & Gilfoyle, D. 2009, 'Experts and Expertise in Colonial Africa Reconsidered: Science and the Interpenetration of Knowledge', African Affairs, 108 (432): 413-33.
Beinart, W. & Bundy, C. 1987, Hidden Struggles in Rural South Africa: politics and popular movements in the Transkei and Eastern Cape, 1890-1930, London: James Currey.
Beinart, W. & Delius, P. 2014, 'The Historical Context and Legacy of the Natives Land Act of 1913', Journal of Southern African Studies, 40 (4): 667-88.
Beinart, W., Delius, P. & Trapido, S., eds. 1986, Putting a plough to the ground: accumulation and dispossession in rural South Africa, 1850-1930, Johannesburg: Raven Press.
Beinart, W. & McGregor, J., eds. 2003, Socal History and African Envionments, Athens: Ohio University Press.
Beinart, W. & Wotshela, L. 2012, Prikley Pear. The social history of a plant in the Eastern Cape, Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
Brown, K., Ainslie, A. & Beinart, W. 2013, 'Animal disease and the limits of local knowledge: dealing with ticks and tick-borne diseases in South Africa', Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 19 (2): 319-37.
de la Hey, M. & Beinart, W. 2016, 'Why Have South African Smallholders Largely Abandoned Arable Production in Fields? A Case Study', Journal of Southern African Studies: 1-18.
Beinart, W., Delius, P. & Hay, M. 2017, Rights to Land: A guide to tenure upgrading and restitution in South Africa., Auckland Park: Fanele.