A Critique of the Green Economy: Approach in the Wildlife Ranching Sector in South Africa

Abstract

The wildlife ranching¹ sector has grown phenomenally, but discourses that involve the green economy have emerged in discussions of the wildlife ranching sector in South Africa. Drawing on data obtained through interviews with key informants, observations and documentary evidence, this paper uses the Afrocentric theoretical framework to critique the discourse of the green economy approach in the wildlife sector. Results of the study indicate that discourses of the green economy and wildlife ranching in South Africa are socially constructed through language. Discourses of game farmers’ identity and practice illustrate that they use language as a critical issue of belonging. The discourses go beyond the ownership of land in an attempt to construct knowledge that portrays wildlife ranching as a good way of caring for nature and as a sustainable way of using wildlife species and habitats.