Thayer Scudder’s Four Stage Framework, water resources dispossession and appropriation: the Kariba case

ABSTRACT

This article considers how the colonial British government’s appropriation of the Kariba Dam historically excluded the BaTonga people from accessing the dam’s resources. Dispossession and appropriation of the Kariba Dam resulted in the impoverishment of the BaTonga of north-western Zimbabwe. In this study, impoverishment of the BaTonga is understood in relation to their failure to adequately reach Thayer ‘Ted’ Scudder’s stages 3 and 4 of the Four Stages Framework (FSF) of successful resettlement. The article argues that when people are denied access to reservoirs and their resources for both religious and socioeconomic reasons, they hardly pass through the four stages adequately. The article is based on ethnographic research and extensive document analysis conducted among the BaTonga between April and October 2017.

KEYWORDS:

• Four Stage Framework
• Kariba Dam
• involuntary resettlement
• impoverishment
• BaTonga people

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.