TY - JOUR PY - 2012// TI - Farming the battlefield: the meanings of war, cattle and soil in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo JO - Disasters A1 - Cox, T. Paul SP - 233 EP - 248 VL - 36 IS - 2 N2 - Prior to 1996 and the Congolese wars, exploitative land policies pushed farmers in the eastern highlands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into a vulnerable position, with cattle manure sustaining intensive cultivation. This exposed households to a complete breakdown in mixed farming as cattle became targets of war. This study of villages in South Kivu offers an inside understanding of continuity and change in farming practices in a region where there are no easy solutions, and it assesses how the province lost its present and where farmers look when they glance to the future. For farmers, who hold a broad view of soil fertility, the casualties of war were not only people and cattle but also the land itself, which has enduring scars. Perceiving a rupture in tradition, South Kivu farmers are searching desperately for new livelihoods that are built on education instead of livestock, setting aside old ethnic signifiers to seek a future beyond protracted conflict.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0361-3666 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01257.x ID - ref1 ER -