Reassessing Fortress Conservation? New Media and the Politics of Distinction in Kruger National Park

Abstract

The idea of protected areas as fortress conservation has long been debated and heavily criticized. In practice, however, the paradigm is alive and well and has, in some cases and especially due to rapid increases in poaching, seen major reinforcements. This article contributes to discussions that aim to reassess fortress conservation ideas and practices by analyzing how new online media are changing the politics of access to and control over increasingly militarized protected areas. Focusing on South Africa's Kruger National Park, one of the most iconic and mediated conservation areas globally, this article argues that new media such as online groups, webcams, and mobile phone apps encourage a new politics of social distinction in relation to the park and what it represents. These politics of distinction lead to complex new ways in which the boundaries of “fortress Kruger” are rendered (more) permeable and (more) restrictive at the same time. The article concludes that it is precisely through rendering park boundaries more permeable that new media technologies could help to reinforce the racialized and unequal hierarchies of the social order that fortress conservation was built on.

受保护地区作为壁垒式保育之概念，长久以来不断受到争论且遭受严峻的批判。但在现实中，该范式却仍然活生生地存在，且在部分案例中，因快速增加的盗猎行为而特别受到强化。本文透过分析新兴的互联网媒体如何改变进入和控制逐渐加剧的受保护区军事化之政治，对于旨在重新评估壁垒式保育概念与实践之讨论作出贡献。本文聚焦全球最具标志性且受到中介的保育地区之一——南非的克鲁格国家公园，以此主张诸如互联网社群、网路摄像机与手机应用程式的新媒体，鼓励了有关该公园与其所再现之事物的社会区辨之新型态政治。这些区辨政治导致 “壁垒克鲁格” 的边界同时成为 (更) 具穿透性与（更）受到限制之复杂方式。本文于结论中主张，正是透过将公园的边界呈现为更具穿透性，新媒体技术因而助长了壁垒式保育所根据的社会秩序的种族化与不平等阶层关係。

Durante mucho tiempo, la idea de identificar las áreas protegidas como fortalezas para la conservación la sido debatida y duramente criticada. En la práctica, sin embargo, el paradigma se encuentra vivo y bien, y en algunos casos, especialmente debido a los rápidos incrementos en caza furtiva, se ha visto grandemente reforzado. Este artículo contribuye a las discusiones que pretenden reexaminar las ideas y prácticas de la conservación como fortaleza, analizando cómo los nuevos medios en línea están cambiando las políticas de acceso y control de áreas protegidas, crecientemente militarizadas. Enfocándose en el Parque Nacional Kruger de África del Sur, una de las áreas de conservación más icónicas y reconocidas globalmente por los medios, este artículo sostiene que nuevos medios, tales como grupos en línea, cámaras para internet y aplicaciones para teléfonos móviles, estimulan una nueva política de distinción social en relación con el parque y lo que este representa. Esta política de distinción conduce a complejos nuevos modos en los que los límites de la “fortaleza Kruger” se tornan (más) permeables y (más) restrictivos al mismo tiempo. Se concluye en el artículo que es precisamente tornando los límites del parque más permeables que las nuevas tecnologías mediáticas podrían ayudar a reforzar las jerarquías racializadas e inequitativas del orden social sobre el cual fue levantada la fortaleza de la conservación.

Key Words:

• fortress conservation
• Kruger National Park
• new media
• protected areas
• South Africa

关键词：:

• 壁垒式保育，克鲁格国家公园，新媒体，受保护地区，南非。

Palabras clave:

• fortaleza de conservación
• Parque Nacional Kruger
• nuevos medios
• áreas protegidas
• África del Sur

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Alice Kelly, Rob Fletcher, and the anonymous reviewers for insightful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this article.

Funding

The research in this article was made possible by a Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Veni grant, Dossier number 451–11–010.

Notes

1. Although it could, of course, be argued that neoliberal market mechanisms have an in-built tendency to enhance inequality and disfavor the already marginalized (Büscher 2013).

2. Obviously, there are still many remote protected areas where wifi is not (fully) available, although—if participatory observations at the World Parks Congress 2014, held in Sydney, Australia, from 12 to 19 November 2014 are anything to go by—this is changing rapidly.

3. Butler and Richardson (2014) recently conducted a survey in the famous Soweto township of Johannesburg and concluded that “it is clear that national parks are still viewed as white leisure spaces in South Africa despite considerable political and organisational changes since 1994” (17).

4. In 2013, more than 600 rhinos were poached in KNP, and 2014 figures exceeded 800. See Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (2015).

5. See, for example, Lapides (2013) or New York Times Editorial Board (2014).

6. The influence of traditional media on park access and control, however, is an understudied phenomenon.

7. See, for example, the weblog of a self-proclaimed “Africam addict” at http://mavimet.com/about/ (last accessed 22 October 2014).

8. Groups are dedicated Facebook spaces that can be secret, closed, or open (public), representing degrees of control over who can see and participate. During my research, I became a member of the most active and biggest conservation Facebook groups dedicated to KNP and South African conservation issues. For more than a year I followed them very regularly (almost daily) and took regular notes and print screens.

9. I have been following Latest Sightings since it began in 2011 on Facebook and www.latestsightings.com. In early 2014, I joined the Latest Sightings Whatsapp group, which I have been observing daily since.

10. Including the Young Jewish Entrepreneurial Award 2014, the Nelson Mandela Young Leadership Award 2014, and others.

11. This is something that is hard to verify, however, and KNP management actually noted that they do not see much bigger congestions (interview, Kruger National Park management staff, 6 February 2014, Skukuza).

12. One major exception, among others, is a radio discussion on “Do you care about Rhino” by DJ Eusebius McKaiser on 19 February 2014, which was heavily discussed on Facebook.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bram Büscher

BRAM BÜSCHER is Professor and Chair of the Sociology of Development and Change Group at Wageningen University, 6706KN, Wageningen, The Netherlands. E-mail: [email protected]. He holds visiting positions at the University of Johannesburg and Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and his current research interests include the political economy of conservation, social media, and violence.