Uncovering the Spiritual Dimension of the Basotho Objection to Resettlement
Experience shows that Africans are often, if not always, opposed to landrelated projects which include resettlement as one of their concomitanteffects. One project that has recently met this kind of opposition from someof the local people in Lesotho is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Thisis the...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
ASRSA
2009
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| In: |
Journal for the study of religion
Year: 2009, Volume: 22, Issue: 1 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Experience shows that Africans are often, if not always, opposed to landrelated projects which include resettlement as one of their concomitanteffects. One project that has recently met this kind of opposition from someof the local people in Lesotho is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Thisis the project aimed at harnessing the water resources of the Highlandsof Lesotho to the mutual benefit of both Lesotho and South Africa. Thispaper attempts to look at what spiritually may be taken as what underliessuch opposition. The paper argues that underlying the Basotho’s refusal tobe resettled is the fact that for Africans there is more to land than appearson the surface. It attempts to explain this in terms of African holisticcosmology. The paper argues specifically that Basotho’s veneration of theirancestors’ graveyards, the dependence of the living upon their ancestorsfor their material welfare, and the Basotho’s traditional healers’ mysticalidentification with some aspects of nature, all of which give the spiritualvalue to the land, are the source of the problem. |
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| ISSN: | 2413-3027 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal for the study of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.4314/jsr.v22i1.47783 |