Going Nowhere Slowly? Land, Livelihoods and Rural Development in the Eastern Cape

Abstract

Colonial dichotomies continue to operate quite freely in the present … Of these dichotomies, that between “modernity” and “tradition” has proved to be the most enduring. The first axis – modernity – is associated with progress, development, “the West”, science and technology, high standards of living, rationality and order; the other axis – tradition – is associated with stasis or even stagnation, underdevelopment, conventional tools and technologies, poverty, superstition and disorder. (Gupta. 1998:48)

Knowledge is like light. Weightless and intangible, it can easily travel the world, enlightening the lives of people everywhere. Yet billions of people still live in the darkness of poverty – unnecessarily. (World Bank, 1999:1)