From Wildlife to Natural Resources, and Back Again? Translating Natures in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park

The article explores the contested natures of the Dukuduku forest bordering the iSimangalison Wetland Park in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, through the analytics of translation. The first half of the article explores environments as objects of translation, by drawing on debates between social scientists and conservationists over whether nature should be seen as constructed or as inherently real. These debates, which took place in the 1980s, help clarify contemporary debates about representationalism and multiplicity. The second half of the article explores environments as translating subjects by showing how different constellations of human and non-human networks have shaped and framed contemporary struggles over the future of the area. It is precisely these processes, it is argued, that make attempts at restoring wilderness to a landscape so challenging.