ABSTRACT

This chapter analyses how different valuations and perceived opportunities during the early colonial period have been translated into legal and extra-legal activity on the edge. It focuses on the contradictions of (state) interventions and policy at the edge and how these perpetuate its ambiguity. The chapter shifts the attention to a defining characteristic: the position of 'the edge' in border zones, at the margins of the state and national economy. The key observations make are that the edge is not only valued differently by those located or interested in it, but most importantly, these valuations are not necessarily linked to its proximity to conservation areas. The chapter concludes that the persistent ambiguity of the edge, shaped by its particular embeddedness in wider developments, is likely to deflect planned trajectories of mainstreaming and incorporation, including transfrontier conservation areas proposals.