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‘‘Mupo Is Life’’:
Intergenerational Community Identity
andSafeguardingSacredNaturalSites
in Limpopo Province, South Africa
Garret Barnwell,
1
Mphatheleni Makaulule,
2
Louise Stroud,
1
Mark Watson,
1
and Dima Mashudu Rubson
3
1
Psychology Department, Nelson Mandela University,
Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
2
Department of African Studies, University of Venda,
Thohoyandou, South Africa.
3
African Traditional Health Practitioner, Vuwani, South Africa.
Abstract
Place attachments are essential for community identity, yet little is
understood about sacred natural sites’ salience to these attachments.
A network of sacred natural sites, also known as Zwifho, is located
across the Vhembe District in South Africa’s Limpopo province. This
qualitative case study explores and describes community members’
relationships with these sacred natural sites and community re-
sponses to ecological degradation affecting these places. The study
used purposive sampling to access community members who identify
as protectors of the Zwifho, traditional leadership, and community
members with particular environmental knowledge. The primary
researcher conducted 13 in-depth qualitative interviews and con-
ducted a thematic analysis. After data collection, archival and online
materials were used to complement the description of community-
based responses to ecological degradation. Field workers verified
thedataandthefindingswerecriticallyreviewed.Thefindings
highlighted psychological bonds that community members have to
Zwifho and have demonstrated that these sites are essential for the
co-creation and transferal of intergenerational community identity.
The study utilizes the example of Dzomo La Mupo, a community-
based movement, to demonstrate how community-based struggles
help to safeguard these sacred natural sites. Finally, the study
discusses how principles of earth jurisprudence and place at-
tachment present opportunities for community psychologists,
ecopsychologists, and other change-makers to support similar
land and environmental justice struggles. Key Words: Community
psychology—Place attachment—Sacred natural sites—Indigenous
knowledge systems—Earth jurisprudence—Environmental justice.
Background
Community-based struggles play an integral role in re-
sponding to the climate and environmental crisis (Rights
and Resources Initiative, 2019). This crisis is rooted in co-
lonial histories of accumulation by dispossession that sever
people’s relationship with place and dislocate communities to allow
colonial powers to exploit the more-than-human world (Barnwell,
Stroud & Watson, 2020a, b; Harvey, 2005). Part of this colonial logic
is to treat communities and ecologies similar to open-access systems,
an approach that violently disregards and delegitimizes the rela-
tionships between place, community sovereignty, and indigenous
knowledge (Shiva, 2020). Delegitimizing these relationships and
treating communities as open-access systems has left areas vulner-
able to exploitation by international fossil fuel, mining, forestry, and
agricultural corporations.
However, even in some of the toughest extractive settings, such as
South Africa’s mining towns, ancestral relationships to place play a
central role in land and environmental justice struggles (Barnwell
et al., 2020b). Thus, paradoxically, it is within the cracks and the
DOI: 10.1089/eco.2020.0058 ªMARY ANN LIEBERT, INC. VOL. XX NO. XX MONTH 2021 ECOPSYCHOLOGY 1
by Peter
fissures of such oppressive extractive systems that liberatory action
takes place (Mignolo & Walsh, 2018).
In South Africa’s northern Limpopo province, there is a network of
sacred natural sites called Zwifho. These Zwifho are integral to the
order of community life and the continuity of ancestral relationships
for the Vhongwaniwapo people. According to Vhongwaniwapo oral
history, Nwali—the Creator or God—divinely chose clans to protect,
maintain, and conduct rituals that ensure order at these sacred sites.
Place attachment is an overarching term for psychological bonds
to place (Manzo & Devine-Wright, 2013). Although studies on place
attachment have explored religious places of worship and natural
spaces (Manzo & Devine-Wright, 2013; Mazumdar & Mazumdar,
2004), psychologists have not yet engaged with how sacred natural
sites inform environmental justice struggles. Indigenous knowledge
systems challenge traditional place attachment theories. According
to Seamon (2013, p. 12): ‘‘Place holds lifeworlds together spatiality
and environmentally, marking out centers of human meaning, in-
tention, and comportment that, in turn, help make place.’’ Thus,
Seamon explains how affective bonds to place emerge through em-
bodied relationships to place. These affective bonds, in turn, form
over time through ongoing dialogues with communities of the more-
than-human world. Birds, bees, forests, and lakes make up some of
these other-than-human communities that collectively constitute
‘‘place’’ (Chalquist, 2007). Research has demonstrated that these af-
fective bonds form with all communities, humans, animals, and
places (Bradshaw, 2019; Manzo & Devine-Wright, 2013).
However, ‘‘place’’ is not an abstraction. Land, Mbiti (1969, p. 26) notes,
is the ‘‘roots of existence’’ and binds people to their departed and thus
concerns both life and death. Ancestral connections are an example of
an intergenerational dialogue involving place that extends both to the
past and to the now, embodied in the daily relationship to place and has
implications for the future. Ancestral connections are relevant to this
case study, although it also bears noting that decades of cultural inva-
sions, such as colonial exploitation and Christian evangelization, have
transformed traditional practices (Kirkaldy, 2005; Ratiba, 2013, 2015).
According to Chalquist (2007), the psychological resonance of place
can impress upon communities whether members are consciously or
unconsciously aware of the psychological relationships that exist with
places where people live. This worldview of terrapsychological inquiry
aligns with indigenous scholars who have called for the recognition of
the subjectivity and rights of nature—also known as earth jurispru-
dence—where the more-than-human world’s inherent rights to exist,
flourish, and create are affirmed (Cullinan, 2011).
Threats and disruptions to psychological dialogues with land can
contribute to significant psychological distress, referred to as place
severing (Barnwell et al., 2020b). Zwifho have come under ex-
traordinary pressure in South Africa from settler-colonial ex-
pansion, the apartheid regime, and other extractive practices
(Bloom, 2020; Ratiba, 2013). However, this occurrence is not
unique to South Africa. Coloniality has threatened sacred sites
across the Global South and the Souths of the North and, in
response, indigenous groups engaged in the environmental justice
movement have drawn on notions of place attachment in their
struggles (Schlosberg & Carruthers, 2010; Schlosberg, Rickards &
Byrne, 2018).
This research explores how communities in South Africa’s
Vhembe District relate to and are safeguarding—the process of pro-
tecting vulnerable others from external harms—Zwifho by engaging
in place-based cultural and political decolonial resurgence.
A focus on the significance of place can help highlight the extent
of loss that land and environmental justice struggles are seeking to
address (Barnwell et al., 2020b). For instance, Schlosberg et al. (2018,
p. 592) explains:
Attending to the quintessentially socio-spatial phenomena of
some people’s attachment to some places brings into play not only
clear cases of ‘‘environmental bads’’ (e.g., the imposition of var-
ious forms of pollution) but the many more intangible losses of
personally or locally valued ‘‘environmental goods.’’
Furthermore, earth jurisprudence and community-based ap-
proaches have been effective in advancing indigenous environmental
justice struggles worldwide (Schlosberg & Carruthers, 2010; Shiva,
2020) and present new opportunities for psychologists that are ac-
companying these movements (Watkins, 2019). Thus, in this research,
the authors posed the question: what are community members’ rela-
tionships with sacred natural sites and how are communities pro-
tecting these sites from environmental degradation?
Methodology
An exploratory case study methodology was employed.
Aims and objectives
This qualitative case study aimed to explore and describe
community members’ relationships with sacred natural sites and
community responses to ecological degradation associated with
these sites in Vhembe District, Limpopo province, South Africa.
We consider this to be a collaborative article that outlines the
Zwifho’s significance, the sites’ need for protection, and discusses
how the community-based organization Dzomo La Mupo protects
these places.
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Participant characteristics
Thirteen semistructured interviews were conducted (male =8;
female =5). The mean age of participants was 50 years. All participants
identified as Tshivenda speakers. Of these, nine participants (69%)
identified as Vhongwaniwapo, thus self-identifying as first peoples to
the area and expressing a familial link to particular Zwifho. The case
study’s boundaries were defined by a network of Zwifho in the Vhembe
District, Limpopo province. For generations, participants’ communities
have lived in close relationship to these ancestral sacred natural sites
(South African Heritage Resource Agency, 2014). The Zwifho serve as
geographic reference points where both those identifying as Vhongwa-
niwapo and community members of different VhaVenda descent were
interviewed. Figure 1 portrays the location of these sacred natural sites.
Data collection
Ethics approval was obtained from the Nelson Mandela University’s
Research Ethics Committee (Human) (REC-H Ref: H18-HEA-PSY-014),
and field data collection took place between May and July 2019. Informed
consent was obtained through forms in Tshivenda and English. Four
individual interviews were conducted in English owing to these partici-
pants’ fluency in the language. The data collection followed a collabo-
rative process. Garret Barnwell, a white male South African clinical
psychologist, conducted the interviews. Cultural translators, Mphatheleni
Makaulule and Dima Mashudu Rubson, accompanied Barnwell. Ma-
kaulule and Mashudu Rubson are Tshivenda speakers with expertise in
traditional knowledge systems. Makaulule is also a founding member and
director of Dzomo La Mupo, a community-based organization consti-
tuted by people who identify as protectors of the Zwifho, traditional
leadership, and individuals with an environmental background. Mashudu
Rubson is a senior African traditional health practitioner.
Purposive sampling was used to identify specific communities and
individuals that would answer the central research question: what are
considered to be community members’ relationships with sacred
natural sites and how have these communities responded to eco-
logical degradation associated with these sites? These initial contacts
included Dzomo La Mupo members.
Fig. 1. Location of Zwifho (sacred natural sites).
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Research practices can also be extractive by engaging with com-
munities as open-access systems and entering them without their
consent (Shiva, 2020). To avoid this during this study, dialogues—
sometimes lasting up to 3 h—took place with traditional leader-
ship before conducting formal interviews. These meetings respected
community sovereignty and traditional governance systems. In these
dialogues, we outlined the research purpose, identified shared values,
and clarified expectations. These discussions also allowed for con-
versations about the research’s value and informed how the find-
ings could be applied in a way that was relevant to the immediate
struggles that communities were engaged with. This dialogue was
fundamental in establishing relational trust and contextual validity
(Watkins & Shulman, 2008). No refusals or dropouts took place. All
interviews were recorded and translated from Tshivenda into English
and verified by field workers.
Dzomo La Mupo’s online profile and unpublished archival docu-
ments were consulted to assist in describing the grassroots commu-
nity organizing model that Dzomo La Mupo uses to safeguard sacred
natural sites. Furthermore, the primary researcher has been working
with members of Dzomo La Mupo for >2 years and descriptions in
the findings are also considered to be informed by these collabora-
tions and experience.
Data analysis (themes related to sacred natural sites)
A thematic analysis of the transcribed data was performed. The
primary researcher used in vivo coding as a nondirective form of
coding that allowed for grounded meanings to emerge. These codes
were clustered into groups of shared meanings and recoded to en-
sure consistency. These clusters of meaning assisted in identifying,
clarifying, and describing the overarching grounded concepts that
emerged. Whereas Themes 1 to 2 relied mainly on direct quotes,
Theme 5 also integrates online and archival material to describe the
model that Dzomo La Mupo uses to safeguard the sacred natural sites.
Furthermore, in the presentation of quotations from participants, an
anonymized key is used to protect participants’ identities. Partici-
pants are, therefore, described using P and a number (e.g., P1 or P6).
Findings
The findings cover five main thematic areas that assist in de-
scribing the importance of Zwifho for intergenerational community
identity and community-based safeguarding.
Theme 1. The inherent importance of sacred natural sites
Theme 1 describes the inherent importance of sacred natural sites.
Participants explained that Zwifho—sacred natural sites—could be
mountains, rivers, lakes, caves, and these features may be covered by
indigenous forests. Although there are differences in their specificities,
these sacred sites are active community networks, which share simi-
larities in identity, spirituality, cultural practices, and ecological
characteristics. Zwifho can be likened to temples, and those identifying
as Vhongwaniwapo—who are considered the first peoples—were en-
trusted by Nwali, the Creator or God, to be guardians of the Zwifho.
Those who do not identify as Vhongwaniwapo also have signifi-
cant relationships with the land and Zwifho. For instance, Lake
Fundudzi—a large body of water in the area—is also vital to the
broader VhaVenda people’s mythology (Korombi, 2007; Musehane,
2016; Mutshinyalo & Siebert, 2010; Netshlungani, 1981; Ross, 2017).
All participants interviewed expressed an attachment to these sites,
whether they identified as Vhongwaniwapo or not.
Nevertheless, it is essential to understand the different relation-
ships participants who identify as the Vhongwaniwapo have to
Zwifho. Participant 3 explained, ‘‘Every single thing in the Zwifho
has its significance spiritually and also in terms of ecologically.
Everything is connected.’’ Several of the Zwifho are the sites of
considerable biodiversity and home to endemic species (Hahn, 2017;
Symes, Venter, & Perrin, 2000) and traditional practices have pro-
tected this biodiversity (Mutshinyalo & Siebert, 2010). For decades,
traditional sacred rituals have been performed at these sites by sev-
eral clans chosen by Nwali, such as the Netshidizhe clan of Zwifho
zwa Thathe (sacred natural site of Thathe). Participant 7 explained
that Zwifho is particularly crucial for Vhadzimu, the ancestral spirits:
‘‘That [Zwifho] is where the ancestors are and that is where their spirit
is.’’ The purpose of these shared rituals is to ensure order—spiritual
and ancestral harmony.
These ancestral rituals are said to have been passed down through
intergenerational practices that are also performed today to ensure
‘‘the well-being, peace, and health for all of Mupo, [which is] all of
creation that is not human-made, Mother Earth and the cosmos’’
(p. 7). Furthermore, Zwifho are entities that are considered to possess
inalienable rights rooted in these intergenerational ways of relating
to place (Dzomo La Mupo, 2020b). These VhaVenda Indigenous Laws
of Origin have been practiced since Tsiko (creation of the universe)
and the rights of the Zwifho to exist originate from Tsiko. The em-
bodied relationships to these sites also play a central role in
community-based struggles (see Theme 5).
Theme 2. ‘‘Mupo way’’: underpinning worldview and practices
Theme 2 describes what Mupo is and how this relationship informs
worldviews and practice in relation to the sacred sites.
Mupo underpins the relationship to Zwifho for participants who
identified as Vhongwaniwapo: ‘‘Mupo is anything which is not
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manmade: the soil, rocks, grass, air—everything. These things coexist
with human beings, but if we don’t have [them anymore then] we
cannot live’’ (p. 9). As Participant 2 explained: ‘‘There’s no life
without Mupo. Mupo is life.’’ All participants viewed human beings
as interdependent and part of Mupo. Thus, at its core, the other-than-
human world makes life possible through interdependent coexis-
tence. Participant 9 explained:
Without all these things there is no life. We are in this world
because of Mupo; it makes us strong. We get food from farming,
wetlands, animals [and] we need all these things. We coexist with
these things. Like these flies, [they are] Mupo. If they are not there
we, as human beings, won’t be well.
This statement resonates with principles of earth jurispru-
dence that consider the world tobemadeupofsubjectsincon-
stant dialogue with one another, co-creating existence (Cullinan,
2011). However, Mupo is not only about humans and the living
world, but also includes ancestral connections. For our grounded
conceptual understanding in this article, Mupo consist of four
interdependent communities: the psyche, the human commu-
nity, the community of nature, and the ancestral connections with
Vhadzimu.
It is also important here to note that not all participants valued the
ancestral domain: ‘‘Many have forsaken the ancestors,’’ Participant 2
explained. This loss was mostly owing to the evangelization and
cultural erosion caused by colonization in the Vhembe District
(Kirkaldy, 2005).
Inquiring about Mupo, Barnwell asked a Makhadzi, a senior aunt
with specific ancestral duties, ‘‘Who created Mupo?’’ She replied, ‘‘It is
Nwali’’ [the Creator or God] (P9). Participant 2 explained that ‘‘Mupo
is a word which [is/means] more than we see by our eyes, hear by our
ears or feel by any senses, it is everything created with Tsiko [origin],
which is not made by a human being, thinking or hands.’’ Mupo is,
therefore, not just nature, an abstraction, but an embodied experience
of existential importance.
Participants perceived Mupo as a web of life with sacred ori-
gins, and is partly the roots of Indigenous VhaVenda Laws of Origin.
Mupo is an important concept that underpinned participants’ rela-
tionships with Zwifho, informing customs and rituals, and
community-based struggles (see Theme 5).
Theme 3. Intergenerational community identity
Theme 3 describes the significance of the sites to intergenerational
community identity. The section explores how these dialogical spaces
between community members and sacred natural sites appear to
assist in intergenerational community identity continuity. Partici-
pant 2 explained how her relationship with elders facilitated
broader place attachments and connected her to traditional knowl-
edge systems:
All those years, the people whom I spent much time with were the
elders. I enjoyed my childhood learning from them when they
talk, whatever they do from cultivation. My father, whatever he
does for the traditional healing, and the people who are still fol-
lowing deep, deep culture in those years.
These place attachments were dependent on these relationships
with elders, the more-than-human world, and the sacred natural
sites. Sacred natural sites provide spaces where Mupo is expressed
and offer a foundation for communal identity. For instance, Parti-
cipant 10 stated: ‘‘These sacred places [Zwifho] are the roots of
our clan.’’ Vhadzimu, ancestral spirits, are believed to return to the
Zwifho, and important traditional ceremonies and rituals have been
conducted at these sites for generations. Participant 5 explained that
a person and the community become close to Mupo through these
ancestral relationships. In turn, ancestral connections were deepened
by following traditional practices:
Mupo is life. Since we’re born by our ancestors, we are following
the steps of our forefathers. We are living the way they used to. We
are following our ancestors’ steps so that we don’t lose track of
their teachings.
Zwifho hold ancestral and spiritual significance providing spaces
where the transfer of knowledge is embodied. For instance, rituals of
the custodians of Zwifho were said to be conducted in the Zwifho by
certain members of the royal family who are supported by specific
members of the community and supported by other community
members’ who witness from outside of the Zwifho. These embodied
rituals include both place and Vhadzimu. The Zwifho are important
physical spaces that hold profound symbolic meaning for associated
clans. Participants reported that elders and traditional leadership
assisted with retaining the connection to Zwifho through their role in
conducting and providing guidance about the ceremony, ritual, and
the right relationship to place.
Meanwhile, development projects, such as forestry, have led to
cultural invasions, mass land conversions, and the loss of most
indigenous forests and biodiversity. Thus, the continued relation-
ships and preservation of these sites also reflect intergenerational
resistance to extraction. Despite the region’s traumatic past, Parti-
cipant 12’s statement illustrates the importance of these spaces
today for communities:
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Even though they have lost their land for cultivation, their ani-
mals, all that they have, their homesteads, but .the sacred forest
and also this palace? It was the best thing that [they] didn’t get
destroyed. We depend on the Zwifho. It is the heart of the living. It
is our safety and the people who are continuing to live here
generation after generation.
Theme 4. Zwifho’ need for protection
Theme 4 describes the Zwifho’s urgent need for protection. ‘‘We
have close to 48 sacred forests, which the traditional leaders (in-
cluding, the chief of Tshidzivhe,Vhutanda,Magoro,Vuu, and Malale
clans) are all involved [with] and are joining us in Dzomo La Mupo
[and also on Dzomo La Mupo’s board of directors] because we are
fighting left and right [for those sites],’’ Participant 1 reported. The
sacred site of Lake Fundudzi was declared South Africa’s first sacred
heritage site (South African Heritage Resource Agency, 2014).
Zwifho zwa Thathe falls within the buffer zone of this heritage site.
Before Lake Fundudzi’s protection, the Vhembe biosphere experi-
enced mass apartheid-era deforestation and land dispossession. No
Zwifho outside of Lake Fundudzi and the Thathe sacred forest, which
falls in the protection site’s buffer zone, are protected by heritage
regulations. Nevertheless, the Lake Fundudzi area’s regulatory pro-
tection does not even guarantee protection. For instance, in 2018
the Limpopo Department of Mineral Resources granted mining
prospecting rights within the Lake Fundudzi heritage site (Fig. 2).
Although Dzomo La Mupo successfully opposed the department’s
decision, additional threats such as climate change have also emerged
(Directorate of Mineral Regulations: Limpopo Region, 2018; Niekerk,
et al., 2019).
However, it is not only new extractive intrusions that threaten
sacred sites. Biodiversity loss as well as food and water insecurity are
also concerning (Ross, 2017). Participants expressed that traditional
plants—such as finger millet (Fig. 3) used in rituals—also require
protection, as does the biodiversity of grain seed.
Fig. 2. Mine prospecting license granted overlapping buffer zone of sacred natural sites.
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The broader community has an obligation toward the sacred sites
and the continuation of ceremonies. Ritual ceremony is the primary
way that the sanctity of the Zwifho and broader life is preserved from
a traditional knowledge perspective. The nature of these ceremonies
is not discussed here to protect indigenous knowledge, but they are
fundamentally important. Participants also considered the potency of
the sacred natural sites and how community members’ connection to
Zwifho are vital for well-being. Participants perceived that Zwifho
have more significant meaning than other traditional sites, such as
traditional burial sites (zwiendeulu and mashubi). This is because
although human beings have identified specific burial sites, Nwali is
said to have created the laws of the Zwifho. The well-being of these
sacred sites is perceived to bring order to the community. Conversely,
the degradation or disturbance of these sites causes considerable
distress owing to Vhadzimu being disturbed:
When you do wrong things, then the ancestors and spirit forsake
you. They no longer protect you. They no longer give you good
things. We believe that good things come from the spirit. With
Venda people, through ancestors, we are asking for them. For
instance, ‘‘I do not have food, I am asking food,’’ or ‘‘I am sick,
I am asking for healing.’’ I mentioned this to the names of the
ancestors, and in the end, I say, ‘‘you, the spirit of the ancestors,
send my prayer to the Creator, God, Nwali.’’ But they [ancestors]
said that if I do wrong and if I allow wrong things to happen,
then the ancestors will turn their back [on you] and you will have
many bad things happen in life. I have seen this in Ramanangi [a
community at Phiphidi waterfall where a Zwifho was de-
stroyed]. They always say that the ancestors have turned their
backs on us (P2).
Furthermore, participants perceived that the degradation of
Zwifho would, in turn, lead to the destruction and cultural erosion
of community identities. Participant 14 expressed the importance
of continuing with traditional practices, stating: ‘‘This village is
cultural, and they follow their traditions, and they lead their lives
according to their traditions, they didn’t change to modern ways.’’
Here it is important to express that ‘‘modern’’ is used as a synonym for
coloniality. Reflecting on the potential of mining that was threat-
ening Lake Fundudzi and the surrounding areas at the time of
interviews, Participant 14 said: ‘‘If people allow the mining to hap-
pen.the ancestors will be angry towards people.’’
Describing the importance of protecting the sacred sites, specifi-
cally Zwifho zwa Thathe, Participant 1 responded: ‘‘You can take
everything that is on our land but do not take our sacred forest
[Zwifho zwa Thathe].’’ Place disruptions also draw attention to place
bonds: ‘‘Interviewer: When you see the environmental destruction,
does it have any impact on you? Participant 2: A lot. It affects me.
That is why I stand on this ground.’’
Theme 5. Dzomo La Mupo, as an emerging model
of community-based safeguarding
Theme 5 describes Dzomo La Mupo’s emerging model of
community-based safeguarding. Dzomo La Mupo has around 200
members (CGTN, 2019), including various clan members who iden-
tify as guardians of the Zwifho. Most participants expressed that the
activities of Dzomo La Mupo were directly associated with re-
establishing traditional roots through the protection of Zwifho
and other activities. The protection of Mupo was essential for the
well-being of the community and Vhadzimu. Dzomo La Mupo’s
(2020a) first committee launched in February 2009: ‘‘Dzomo La Mupo
emerged from many community ecological dialogues, and the Dzo-
mo La Mupo approach [to group work] is community participatory
[and] is led by the needs and understanding of the communities,
focusing on the impact of environmental destruction and erosion
of indigenous knowledge.’’
Fig. 3. A Makhadzi, who is also an elder chosen by the ancestors to
be a ritual performer, holds finger millet (photograph credit: Garret
Barnwell).
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Today, Dzomo La Mupo aims to protect Mupo through seed se-
curity (e.g., preserving finger millet and traditional seeds), protecting
sacred natural sites, and cultural renewal. These practices work to-
ward safeguarding Mupo and ensure the continuity of community
identity. These decolonial actions are seen to be crucial for healing
from and transcending coloniality.
Participant 4 explained: ‘‘Peace of mind will start to arise.
I’mtryingtoshowyouthatwecanusetheseprogramsasaway
of healing human minds.’’ Furthermore, the reciprocal relationship
between community members and Zwifho—and, in addition, Dzo-
mo La Mupo’s mobilization—play a significant role in the protection
of the Zwifho. Participant 6 described: ‘‘I have got a relationship
with Mupo because what I use here, I get it from Mupo. It also forces
me to preserve Mupo and to see Mupo is in order. I can see the value
of Mupo.’’
Subtheme 5.1. Affirming and strengthening traditional gover-
nance. The traditional community-based governance systems that
Dzomo La Mupo has strengthened are the primary way in which sites
are protected. ‘‘We, the indigenous clans of the Venda territory, have
our governance structures, customary laws, and our network of
Zwifho,’’ Makaulule (2019) explained during a meeting on the De-
claration for the Protection of Sacred Natural Sites (Natural Justice,
2020). For instance, Participant 13 explained:
Most of the big trees, you were not allowed to cut down [in the
past]. There were some restrictions that even when you were to
cultivate, you have to leave [the natural bush] meters from the
river. So, there were all of these things [and] ways that said,
‘‘please do not tamper much with Mupo.’’
Community-based approaches to safeguarding traditional knowl-
edge systems are effective strategies and avoid top-down external
intrusions (Shiva, 2020). Specific clans, also referred to as guard-
ians, are again seen as divinely chosen by the Creator to protect the
Zwifho; responsibilities are intergenerational obligations. Makaulule
(2019) reported: ‘‘These rights and responsibilities have always been
upheld by our ancestors, even if sometimes they had to hide. Now, we
are reclaiming our rights.’’ As previously discussed, safeguarding
and ritual ceremony form part of these responsibilities in relation
to the Zwifho.
Dzomo La Mupo assists in organizing meetings in which differ-
ent clans’ dialogue about issues affecting the sites and articulating
governance structures. Inherent rights to protect the Zwifho (and
Vhadzimu) are aligned with global developments, such as earth ju-
risprudence, that are restorative and that seek to protect the sanctity
of nature, traditional rights, and land tenure rights (Cullinan, 2011;
Dzomo La Mupo 2020a; Shiva, 2020; Watkins, 2019).
Subtheme 5.2. Articulating principles for safeguarding. As part of
safeguarding these sites, Dzomo La Mupo (2020b) has articulated 12
fundamental principles for the Zwifho protection. The principles
involve preventing alterations to the site, ensuring that the site’s
sanctity is respected, preventing nontraditional ceremonies or ac-
tivities from being conducted at the sites and preventing the removal
of any objects. Dzomo La Mupo members raise awareness about these
principles and Mupo and the sacred natural sites in their communi-
ties. One member from Vhutanda explained the importance of this
process: ‘‘Elders guide us and tell us if we are wrong, and also show
us our customs. They must tell us if you do this, there will be con-
sequences.’’ They do so by creating dialogical spaces where other
community members can participate. These 12 principles renew
traditional governance and re-create the sanctity of the place.
Subtheme 5.3. Free, prior, and informed consent. Furthermore, the
group emphasized that anyone should obtain free, prior, and in-
formed consent from guardians and traditional authorities before any
activity at the sacred sites occurs. For example, the sites require
horizontal and vertical protection. Everything below the sites is sa-
cred; therefore, mining, for instance, would disturb Vhadzimu and
the Zwifho. Disturbances to the sites create disorder and can have
adverse repercussions for individuals, communities, Vhadzimu, or
Mupo as a whole. In addition, damage to one Zwifho may harm
others owing to their interconnectivity and interdependence on
one another. Participant 14 explained: ‘‘If people allow the mining to
happen that is impossible, the ancestors will be angry towards people.’’
At the beginning of 2020, Dzomo La Mupo was used as an effective
platform to contest prospecting rights that could harm two Zwifho.
Members were interviewed in the media, and accompanied tradi-
tional leaders and communities in resisting the external incursion.
Ultimately, the local Tshivhase traditional council voted against
mining in and around the Lake Fundudzi area. The current research
project played a role in this as the mine prospecting documents were
obtained in 2019 through the Promotion of Access to Information
Act 2 of 2000 and shared with Dzomo La Mupo members.
Subtheme 5.4. Seed collection and tree planting. The work of
DzomoLaMupoisdesire-centeredratherthandamage-centered
(Tuck, 2009). It aimed at the regeneration of the sacred sites and
indigenous forests, rather than only apposing extraction. As Par-
ticipant 12 explained:
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I wish that these pine trees could be removed away from the sacred
and [that instead we could] put indigenous trees. The animals that
used to stay there would return because they cannot live in pine
trees; there’s no life and that is why most of the animals ran to the
sacred site [which still has indigenous forest].
Dzomo La Mupo has moved toward this vision through communal
indigenous tree nurseries where members collect indigenous forest
seeds, plant them, and nurture these trees until they are strong en-
ough to be transplanted (Fig. 4). These indigenous trees have been
planted around the sacred natural sites to re-establish the sanctity of
the sacred natural sites, which are surrounded by pine and tea
plantations as well as human developments. ‘‘These trees are also
planted in schools as part of a cultural biodiversity program on in-
tergenerational learning,’’ Participant 2 described.
Subtheme 5.5. Seeking formal protection. Across South Africa, the
formal protection and support that these sites enjoy is woefully in-
adequate. For instance, South Africa’s National Heritage Resources
Agency has only recognized four African sacred sites—Mantsopa
Caves, Nkoe/Sefate/Poqong, Witsie’s Cave, and Lake Fundudzi—
compared with the 3349 buildings, 10 battlefields, and 57 geological
sites (South African Heritage Resources Agency, 2020). Further-
more, heritage in South Africa is based on colonial definitions that
commodify heritage and open these sites up to tourism and other
potentially extractive practices, Dzomo La Mupo members have
explained. Thus, the conditions that come with formal heritage
recognition by the state may be in direct conflict with traditional
governing principles, which see these sites as sacred and only for
the specific members of the royal family of the custodians of the
sites to enter.
Schlosberg et al. (2018, p. 594) explains that the lack of recogni-
tion of place attachment in law and policy neglect ‘‘the significance
of the loss of place attachment intersects with issues of cultural
misrecognition.’’ Schlosberg continues, ‘‘place attachment is espe-
cially core to the identity and well-being of certain groups such as
indigenous peoples.’’ Dzomo La Mupo is engaged in the process of
seeking formal recognition and protection of these sites and
Fig. 4. Tree nursery (photograph credit: Garret Barnwell).
Fig. 5. Community meeting at Zwifho zwa Magoro (photograph credit: Garret Barnwell).
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envisions challenging the Heritage Act. These are lengthy and complex
processes that have involved the facilitation of in-depth community,
traditional leadership, and state participation. Sacred natural sites are
also included through meetings being held at sacred natural sites.
Thus, the voice of the Zwifho and Vhadzimu are brought into dialogue
with these contemporary struggles. For instance, Figure 5 depicts a
community process facilitated by Dzomo La Mupo about the protec-
tion of Zwifho zwa Magoro during the data collection process.
Discussion and Concluding Remarks
This qualitative case study explored and described community
members’ relationships with sacred natural sites in the Vhembe
District and community-based safeguarding responses. The study has
described how Zwifho are essential anchors for intergenerational
community identities. The safeguarding of these spaces and cere-
monial rituals at these sites, traditional knowledge systems, and
community identities are intergenerationally transferred. The sacred
natural sites are dialogical spaces where communities—human, na-
ture, and ancestral—come together to constitute the sites’ sanctity.
Place attachments appear to be facilitated through socialization,
including the participation in rituals, the embodied relationships to
the ancestors, and reverence for Nwali, the Creator or God. The fa-
cilitation of place attachment through socialization is a similar
finding to Mazumdar and Mazumdar (2004) who studied place at-
tachment to religious sites.
Concerning these dialogical spaces, intergenerational place attach-
ments and affective bonds with the more-than-human world exist.
Participants’ responses suggest that there are two broad forms of at-
tachment.First,thereistheattachmenttoplaceand,second,thereisa
relational attachment to the broader members of the web of life, Mupo.
The bond that forms here is through the mutual relationship that has
taken place over generations and informs ritual practice and other
customs. The cognitive and affective bond is not only to place as a
concrete form, but also to a way of life that mutually informs world-
views. Traditional place attachment theory does not discuss the latter,
and we suggest that future research should explore these affective bonds
that exist with the broader web of life that co-create intergenerational
worldviews and practices. This sense of interconnectivity recognizes all
life’s inherent rights to exist, create, and mutually flourish.
Sheridan and Nyamweru (2007) have also brought attention to the
importance of sacred groves across the African continent. They found
that sacred natural sites are dynamic and contested spaces, and this
case study has demonstrated how Dzomo La Mupo, a community-
based land and environmental justice movement, resists external
extractive intrusions.
Zwifho and communities who identify with the sites have un-
dergone considerable changes. Whereas the participants interviewed
in this case study still share a close relationship with these sites, this is
likely not the case for all community members. Histories of colonial
exploitation and apartheid-era land grabs as well as environmental
injustices have eroded traditional knowledge systems and threatened
place attachments (Kirkaldy, 2005; Ross, 2017). We are cautious,
therefore, of stating that these findings represent those of the whole
community. However, they reflect important dynamics that are
crucial in the safeguarding of these spaces.
These findings are not unique to South Africa, as indigenous
peoples, land defenders, and environmental activists’ relationship
with land are under threat worldwide (Global Witness, 2020). Further
research could emphasize the exploration of the psychological pro-
cess of disconnecting people from place, what Barnwell et al. (2020b)
have termed place severing. Barnwell et al. (2020b, p. 3) described
place severing as a ‘‘psychological process associated with harms
done to place attachment, including to ancestral land, the unsettling
of traditional knowledge systems, intergenerational identity pro-
cesses and ancestral relationships, stemming from historical land and
ecological injustices.’’ Place severing in this case study represents
colonial trauma.
Furthermore, Dzomo La Mupo has played a crucial role in af-
firming and reconnecting community members to these traditional
roots in contemporary ways, such as creating dialogical spaces, as
well as awareness-raising, and tree planting activities. Although
there are traditional ways in which identities are transferred, such
community-based movements are quite contemporary and offer in-
sights for other social movements. Future research may explore how
effective these community-based struggles are in reigniting place
dialogues and countering environmental harms. Dzomo La Mupo is
an actor in this broader web of resistance that is imagining new
realities. As Watkins (2019, p. 256) reflects: ‘‘Now humans standing
with trees, water, mountains, soil, seeds, and air must provide not
only witness to the ecocide that has been suffered but engagement in
strategic struggles to stop the destruction and repair and restore
whole bioregions.’’
The local understandings of Mupo do resonate with princi-
ples of earth jurisprudence, which views nature as having rights
(Cullinan, 2011). As anthropocentric environmental laws and poli-
cies fail communities, earth jurisprudence presents new prospects
for community psychologists, ecopsychologists, and change-makers
(Barnwell et al., 2020b; Barnwell, Watson & Stroud, 2020a; Watkins,
2019). Schlosberg et al. (2018) has emphasized that place attachment
is becoming of greater importance to environmental justice struggles.
BARNWELL ET AL.
10 ECOPSYCHOLOGY MONTH 2021
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In this case study, we have clearly shown that the Zwifho have several
‘‘environmental goods’’ that extend to identity and existence itself. As
part of this study, ecopsychosocial accompaniers may assist commu-
nities in articulating these place attachments, grounding them in local
traditional knowledge systems, psychological and environmental jus-
tice theory, that present the harms and importance for safeguarding.
We imagine a point where ecopsychologists are fluent in wild law—the
application of earth jurisprudence—and can serve as court amicus or
assist in protecting sacred natural sites, as in this case study.
As part of this research, the primary author has written several
ecopsychosocial reports to assist with protection activities (Barnwell,
2020a–c). The reports focused on three areas: place attachment;
psychological distress associated with constant disconnection from
sites, which are framed as reflective of affective bonds to place; and
the significance of Zwifho to intergenerational community identity.
Healing from intergenerational traumas stemming from colonial and
apartheid-era wounds may partly be facilitated through the adequate
protection of sites that is community led, rather than a top-down
conceptualization of what heritage is. In addition, Dzomo La Mupo
already exists, and other well-functioning traditional governance
systems may present opportunities for protecting vulnerable sacred
sites, which have inherent customary rights and are under threat.
Opportunities could include legally empowering guardians to be
custodians of the sacred sites, thus affirming traditional governance
and self-determination. However, those working with communities
need to be led by custodians and politics of recognition that come
with legal guardianship adequately considered.
Community-based approaches to the protection of biodiversity
have shown considerable strides (Shiva, 2020). We have seen how
these community-based approaches have overturned mine pro-
specting that threatened these sacred natural sites and how Dzomo La
Mupo has assisted in cultural renewal. As additional support, earth
jurisprudence may be used to bolster these local systems. For in-
stance, each clan could be granted ‘‘guardianship’’ over Zwifho that
are vulnerable to mine prospecting, deforestation, and extractive
practices. New Zealand used a similar strategy to protect and assign
guardianship of a sacred river to an indigenous group (Knauß, 2018).
However, other studies have suggested that South Africa’s Con-
stitution may provide human rights protections to communities
negatively impacted by environmental degradation. Warren, Fil-
gueira, and Mason (2009, p. 24) explain that Section38(c) of the
document empowers anyone ‘‘acting as a member of, or in the interest
of, a group or class of persons to approach the court with an alle-
gation that there has been a breach of their human rights.’’ According
to these authors (Warren et al., 2009, p. 24):
The provision could be used in conjunction with the right to a
healthy environment to enable communities to establish protec-
tive measures for traditionally healthy relationships with nature,
which at least allows humans to participate in ecological gover-
nance although it does not give a direct voice to nature threatened
by encroaching human interests.
Nevertheless, the concepts of place attachment and intergenera-
tional community identity could be used in relation to the afore-
mentioned law. However, litigation is an expensive affair, and a
greater spotlight on the importance of such sites across the globe is
needed. Regretfully, environmental governance in South Africa is
mostly anthropocentric, which is in contradiction to earth-centered
governance and what has been described in this case study (Green,
2020; Warren et al., 2009). Traditional knowledge systems challenge
conventional policies and law, recognizing the inherent rights of
nature, land tenure, and indigenous knowledge systems. As Schlos-
berg et al. (2018, p. 594) points out: ‘‘Loss of place attachment is
not fully considered a legitimate cost in conventional social impact
assessment processes, which focus instead on quantifiable, eco-
nomic costs.’’
Legal arguments centering on the relevance of sacred sites for
community identity, culture, health, and psychological well-being
may assist human and more-than-human communities. Thus, we
imagine profound roles for community psychologists, ecopsycholo-
gists, academics, and activists in decolonial struggles.
Authors’ Contributions
The G.B. author led the field data collection, conducted the anal-
ysis, and finalized the first draft. The M.M. and D.M.R. authors helped
identify participants, provided cultural interpretation, and critically
reviewed the article. Authors L.W. and M.W. provided supervision
and editorial support.
Acknowledgments
We thank everyone who engaged in this study, specifically those
who provided in-depth interviews. A special thanks to Dzomo La
Mupo members who continue their fight for the protection of Zwifho
and Mupo in Vhembe District, Limpopo province, South Africa.
Dzomo La Mupo is in constant need of support to sustain its activities.
Please follow the website, if you would like further information:
www.thedzomolamupo.org
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
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Funding Information
The study reported herein was made possible through funding by
the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) through its
Division of Research Capacity Development under the National
Health Scholarship Program from funding received from the Public
Health Enhancement Fund/South African National Department of
Health. The content hereof is the authors’ sole responsibility and does
not necessarily represent the official views of the SAMRC.
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Address correspondence to:
Garret Barnwell
Psychology Department
Nelson Mandela University
Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape 6031
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E-mail: info@garretbarnwell.com
Received: September 17, 2020
Accepted: February 10, 2021
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