Today, fortified fences and high boundary walls are ubiquitous features of the South African landscape. My Royce project researches the historical precedent for these enclosures in and around Nsikazi, an area on the edge of South Africa’s biggest nature reserve that was part of one of apartheid’s “Bantustans”. I plan to bring archival research together with oral histories that I will create with my neighbors, nearby communities, and people who have lived through forced removals. Through fences as a physical expression of oppressive policies and human interactions with the environment, I want to better understand understudied local histories of the place that I grew up in and am closely connected to as a white South African descended from violent histories of colonialism.

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Nancy Jacobs

My name is Maru and I’m a History concentrator from rural Mpumalanga, South Africa. I’m interested in environmental histories of colonialism and apartheid to understand the historical injustices that made my society as unequal as it is today. On campus, I organize for climate and housing justice with Sunrise and HOPE (Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere). I love to write, edit Wikipedia pages, forage, and grow vegetable gardens.