ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the rapid transformation of a largely peasant economy that took place in the lead-up to the introduction of cotton in the 1960s. It explores the land use and agrarian characteristics of the region, a discussion based on the notable increase in the total number of commercial smallholder farms following waves of in-migration to the region. The chapter also explores new institutional developments, particularly in the 1980s, including the incorporation of the region into a wider market. An understanding of identity dynamics reveals ongoing changes in cultural and geographical imaginations, from envisaging a hostile and relatively uninhabitable frontier 'fly country' to one of imagined livelihood prospects including riches from cotton growing and the freedom to cultivate on 'virgin' soils within the communal lands. The chapter ends by highlighting some of the conflict and place-based dynamics that have given the region its uneven and volatile characteristic especially since the late 1990s.
