Experiential autochthony in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

The white Batswana of the Okavango identify as African, are strongly nationalistic and express deep senses of belonging to the social and physical environments of their birth and upbringing. Yet, claims to belonging by white people to extra-European territories are often perceived as inauthentic at best and neocolonial at worst. This raises the question of how the empirical realities of such connections can be analytically rendered without threatening or appropriating indigenous identities. Through making a case for the heuristic utility of the concept of experiential autochthony, I argue that emplacement and belonging can be fruitfully explored for migrant and settler groups.