Two Masters level bursaries (R 30,000 p.a.) are available for an exciting interdisciplinary project in the Eastern Cape, funded by the South African Netherlands Program for Alternative Development (SANPAD) and based at Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

Project information
Understanding rural peoples' sense of place and their environment: Implications for bio-cultural diversity conservation.

The study aims to obtain a better understanding of the values attached by modernised rural communities in the Eastern Cape to their surrounding landscapes in respect of cultural significance and use of biodiversity and to assess the relevance of these values for developing effective biodiversity conservation policies and practices. The research will be carried out by an interdisciplinary team with representatives of both social and ecological sciences. Team members include Dr Michelle Cocks (Institute for Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University), Dr Freerk Wiersum (Forest and Nature Conservation Policy group, Wageningen University, The Netherlands), Tony Dold (Selmar Schonland Herbarium and Botany Department, Rhodes University) and Dr Susi Vetter (Botany Department, Rhodes University).

The overall objectives of the study are to:

• develop novel interdisciplinary methodology for assessing local landscape values and their significance for biodiversity conservation in non-Western societies

• improve insights into the nature of landscape values in modernised rural villages in South Africa and social factors effecting these values
• improve insights into the relation between people’s landscape values and the ecological characteristics of these landscapes
• identify innovative approaches for incorporating local people's values in biodiversity conservation programmes in South Africa.
• train of students in new approaches towards studying people-environment relationships.

The project was initiated in 2008. Studies are currently under way to explore the variety of place meanings assigned to specific environments in particular villages, as well as more general perceptions and interpretations of landscapes characterised by different vegetation types in different states of transformation. The findings of this exploratory phase will be synthesized at the end of 2008 and will inform more detailed research in 2009 – 2010 in which the two Masters students will be involved.

Funding is available for two bursaries for full-time Masters studies: one MSc based in the Botany Department and one MA to be based at the Institute for Social and Economic Research. The MA study will most likely be an in-depth study of the values and meanings people from different areas and/or with different socio-economic profiles attach to different landscape elements, with a focus on aesthetic, emotional and spiritual meanings rather than direct use values. The MSc may focus on understanding the links between different people’s landscape values, their indigenous ecological knowledge (e.g. of environmental change or vegetation transformation) and ecological characteristics such as vegetation composition, biodiversity and/or ecosystem function. Students will develop research proposals based on the outcomes of the exploratory research.

Projects should begin in early 2009 and be completed by the end of 2010. The research will be conducted in several rural and peri-urban areas in the former Ciskei in the Eastern Cape. Students will present their work at local conferences and are expected to publish their research in peer reviewed journals.

Students with a strong academic background in anthropology, environmental science, conservation or ecology and an enthusiasm for doing field-based research in rural areas are encouraged to contact Michelle Cocks or Susi Vetter for more information and to discuss the application process. SANPAD conditions stipulate that preference be given to applicants of South African nationality from designated groups.