Staying with the system: theoretical consistency and change in Danish geographical work on the Sahel

Abstract

Scholars have studied the Sahel intensely since major droughts hit the region in the early 1970s. One of the most persistent of these in terms of both volume and time span is Anette Reenberg. In this paper we explore her studies of the Sahel published in peer-reviewed journals and their impact over the last three decades. Reenberg has had a remarkably stable theoretical agenda concerned with the importance of understanding the social and biophysical systems as one coupled human-environmental system. This agenda has influenced contemporary as well as subsequent Danish scholars publishing on the Sahel. Taking papers published in Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography as an example we show how scholars have moved from treating aspects of the Sahelian droughts according to the traditional natural-social science divide towards a much more coupled manner. This rise of the coupled human-environmental system framework in the journal may be attributed to Reenberg’s theoretical agenda as well as a new international stream of research joining the human and environmental sciences in an interdisciplinary effort. Hence, it is also shown how Reenberg’s theoretical agenda have influenced scholars trying to grasp contemporary global change. This is especially evident in the land science community.

Keywords:

• human-environmental systems
• land use
• telecoupled systems
• global change

Acknowledgements

The research was funded by a grant from the DANIDA-FFU, 09-001KU (A region wide assessment of land systems resilience and climate robustness in the agricultural frontline of the Sahel), the ERC project Waterworlds and the German Excellence Initiative. Helpful comments given by two anonymous reviewers are gratefully acknowledged.