Exhumation of forgotten souls: Indigenous knowledge systems and sustainable design approach to Patlong Village Relocation and place of memory

Abstract

Since the 1940s, rapidly increasing demand for green energy globally along with water supply demands in growing urban areas have led to de- velopment of hydropower dams and reservoirs at an unprecedented scale across the globe. Although hydro facilities are a relatively clean energy, they have environmental and social impact at country, basin, and regional levels. At country level, construction of these mega hydro-projects comes at a great cost to directly affected communities as they cause involuntary dis- placement, lose of rangelands and means of sustaining livelihood in gener- al. Furthermore, existing social links are broken leaving indigenous knowl- edge systems at risk of erasure. Lastly, affected communities are usually undercompensated, relocated, and hosted in other villages or moved to new designated settlements where resources are already limited thus causing a further strain on such resources. Not only do said hydro-projects have negative impacts in their respective countries, unsustainable management of river flows and unequal use of the Basin’s water lead to conflicts between riparian states. Environmen- tally, damming of valleys negatively affect fauna and flora upstream by flooding and inadequate water downstream. The Lesotho Highlands wa- ter, a 4 phased bilateral agreement between Republic of South Africa and Kingdom of Lesotho is no exception to these negative impacts. This research Report investigated how indigenous knowledge of material and social culture can inform new relocation stratergies which will help anchor a newly developed village. Through recording of oral and literary history, mapping, and conducting semi-structured interviews at Patlong, an understanding of the community’s current livelihood was established. Based on the author’s findings, an Architectural intervention in a form of a settlement anchored by an agricultural skills development centre, a seed bank and a commercial retail node was proposed to ensure a sustainable relocation strategy.