FRANK MATOSE is an environmental sociologist and Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa and co-editor of The Violence of Conservation in Africa (2022) and Reclaiming African Environmentalism: Ecological Struggles for Wellbeing and Habitability (2025). His research focuses on the political ecology of people, rights and resources in Africa. He is part of the Rights, Resources Initiative Fellows Group and an affiliate editor of the journal World Development.

• Table of contents IllustrationsPreface. Acknowledgements. AbbreviationsThe grieved lands of Africa. Introduction: The conundrum of forest conservation in southern Africa. 1. Situating the genealogy of liminality in southern African forests. 2. Dwesa-Cwebe: From restored land rights to enduring liminality. 3. Emaguswini eGwayi: Waiting for forest tenure rights as nature gets commodified.4. Kutora in Mafungabusi: Occupation against state exercise of power5. Conclusion: Post-liminality: Volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity. BibliographyIndex

FRANK MATOSE is an environmental sociologist and Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa and co-editor of The Violence of Conservation in Africa (2022) and Reclaiming African Environmentalism: Ecological Struggles for Wellbeing and Habitability (2025). His research focuses on the political ecology of people, rights and resources in Africa. He is part of the Rights, Resources Initiative Fellows Group and an affiliate editor of the journal World Development.

• Table of contents IllustrationsPreface. Acknowledgements. AbbreviationsThe grieved lands of Africa. Introduction: The conundrum of forest conservation in southern Africa. 1. Situating the genealogy of liminality in southern African forests. 2. Dwesa-Cwebe: From restored land rights to enduring liminality. 3. Emaguswini eGwayi: Waiting for forest tenure rights as nature gets commodified.4. Kutora in Mafungabusi: Occupation against state exercise of power5. Conclusion: Post-liminality: Volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity. BibliographyIndex

FRANK MATOSE is an environmental sociologist and Professor in the Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town, South Africa and co-editor of The Violence of Conservation in Africa (2022) and Reclaiming African Environmentalism: Ecological Struggles for Wellbeing and Habitability (2025). His research focuses on the political ecology of people, rights and resources in Africa. He is part of the Rights, Resources Initiative Fellows Group and an affiliate editor of the journal World Development.

• Table of contents IllustrationsPreface. Acknowledgements. AbbreviationsThe grieved lands of Africa. Introduction: The conundrum of forest conservation in southern Africa. 1. Situating the genealogy of liminality in southern African forests. 2. Dwesa-Cwebe: From restored land rights to enduring liminality. 3. Emaguswini eGwayi: Waiting for forest tenure rights as nature gets commodified.4. Kutora in Mafungabusi: Occupation against state exercise of power5. Conclusion: Post-liminality: Volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity. BibliographyIndex