Becoming Wilderness : a topological study of Tarangire, Northern Tanzania 1890-2004

Based on field and archival research, Becoming Wilderness analyses the fluid constructs of game preservation and their affect within networks and landscapes to the west of Tarangire National Park, Northern Tanzania from the late 19th Century until the present. The initial query of this thesis is how and why Tarangire comes to be separated as different from its surrounding (on the map and within policy) and what this has entailed for what is ‘within’ and ‘outside’. This thesis is written to add to the understanding of how ‘one of Tanzania’s most spectacular wilderness areas’ was created, in order to problematize and deepen the understanding of the factual people/park conflicts and entanglements existing there today. Through a topological investigation, it shows Tarangire’s transformation from peripheral to central and the simultaneous transformation of peopled landscapes from central to borderlands. Based on interviews, focus groups and archival research the thesis firstly investigates the transformation of peopled landscapes to the west of Tarangire National Park. Secondly it analyses the alternations in the tsetse geography that has previously been claimed to be the root cause behind the creation of the park, pointing to the fluid and relational character of tsetse landscapes. Thirdly, this thesis queries the notion of an ‘imposition of wilderness’ and suggests that vast tracts of Tanzania’s protected areas have in fact gradually become wilderness within heterogeneous networks, rooting themselves in ways that are far more tricky to oppose than had they suddenly been imposed. As such it seeks to contribute to the understanding of the root causes of conservation vs. people conflicts existing today.People Land and Time in Africa (PLATINA