The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate

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dc.contributor.advisorGreen, Lesleyen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorVan der Merwe, Lawrenceen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2016-06-23T14:51:33Z
dc.date.available2016-06-23T14:51:33Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractThis paper details an intermittent six months of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and participant observation carried out between September 2014 - March 2015, among members of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group and three other South Africans labeled "anti-frackers" and/or "environmentalists": a filmmaker, an entrepreneur, and an attorney. Drawing from analysis of literature, news and multimedia published outside the period of engaged research, the paper explores the contested process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from the perspective of those who work to ensure that this technique of shale gas extraction will not be allowed, or will be proven unnecessary, in South Africa. The dissertation details the author's attempts to understand how the binary of "pro"/"anti" is used in the ongoing fracking "debate", and contrasts this with the work of those who have sought to craft positions that stand outside of the prevailing polemic. Tracing the stakes and interests involved in the potential for the use and sale of shale gas through a series of expeditions into the Karoo, the thesis seeks to problematize the idea that there is a fracking "debate" at hand between two collective fronts: the so-called "pro-frackers" and their opponents the "anti-frackers". In the Latourian sense of the term the dissertation critiques the construction of these two 'phantom publics', presenting a series of nuanced personal profiles in a call for a new appreciation of the diverse human, financial and natural forces at play in this currently unfolding scenario.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationVan der Merwe, L. (2015). <i>The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate</i>. (Thesis). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20108en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationVan der Merwe, Lawrence. <i>"The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate."</i> Thesis., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20108en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationVan der Merwe, L. 2015. The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate. University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Van der Merwe, Lawrence AB - This paper details an intermittent six months of ethnographic fieldwork, interviews and participant observation carried out between September 2014 - March 2015, among members of the Treasure the Karoo Action Group and three other South Africans labeled "anti-frackers" and/or "environmentalists": a filmmaker, an entrepreneur, and an attorney. Drawing from analysis of literature, news and multimedia published outside the period of engaged research, the paper explores the contested process of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) from the perspective of those who work to ensure that this technique of shale gas extraction will not be allowed, or will be proven unnecessary, in South Africa. The dissertation details the author's attempts to understand how the binary of "pro"/"anti" is used in the ongoing fracking "debate", and contrasts this with the work of those who have sought to craft positions that stand outside of the prevailing polemic. Tracing the stakes and interests involved in the potential for the use and sale of shale gas through a series of expeditions into the Karoo, the thesis seeks to problematize the idea that there is a fracking "debate" at hand between two collective fronts: the so-called "pro-frackers" and their opponents the "anti-frackers". In the Latourian sense of the term the dissertation critiques the construction of these two 'phantom publics', presenting a series of nuanced personal profiles in a call for a new appreciation of the diverse human, financial and natural forces at play in this currently unfolding scenario. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate TI - The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20108 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/20108
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationVan der Merwe L. The anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debate. [Thesis]. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Social Anthropology, 2015 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20108en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentSocial Anthropologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subject.otherSocial Anthropologyen_ZA
dc.titleThe anti-frackers: an ethnographic account of the South African fracking debateen_ZA
dc.typeMaster Thesis
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationnameMAen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceThesisen_ZA
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