1 Investigating Rural Livelihoods And Landscapes In Guquka And Koloni: An Introduction

Guquka and Koloni are situated in the central Eastern Cape, in the former Ciskei homeland. Administratively, they fall within the boundaries of the Amatola District Municipality, one of the five district municipalities that now make up the Eastern Cape Province. Economically, Koloni and Guquka resemble the contemporary realities one encounters across the former Bantustans of South Africa. These can be summarised as declining agriculture, seemingly overgrazed rangelands with livestock and varying degrees of soil erosion. The social science perspective contrasts with that of the natural sciences that views landscapes as a natural environment, consisting of non-biological resources such as soils, nutrients, air, and water, and biological resources, plants and animals etc. Landscapes in Guquka and Koloni are thus constituted by people, their institutions and artefacts, soils and fauna and flora. This chapter presents an overview of how the other chapters of the book are organised. Keywords: biological resources; Guquka; Koloni; landscapes; natural environment; South Africa