There is a dearth of research scholarship on the livelihood transitions of former homeland communities. An analysis of livelihood transitions may provide important pathways to strengthen current livelihood capabilities and enhance sustainable development initiatives that illustrate livelihood transformations in former homeland communities. This paper, therefore, seeks to enact an empowering scholarship to emphasise how knowledge collaboration with rural homeland communities can be an effective pathway for envisioning their livelihood transitions and sustainable futures. This paper explores the livelihood transitions of former homeland communities in Transkei and QwaQwa.
Connection to the Theme of Innovative Pathways to Thriving Communities The historicity of scholarship on homelands has generated exciting literature streams emphasizing how place-based community development approaches are embedded in rural homeland communities' resilience and transformative aspirations. Focusing on Transkei and QwaQwa, this comparative study stresses how distinct spatial locations influence livelihood behaviors and explores livelihood transitions of poor rural communities. Analyzing livelihood transitions may provide important pathways to strengthen current livelihood capabilities and enhance sustainable development initiatives that illustrate livelihood transformations in rural communities. Using a multi-method participatory qualitative approach, this study is guided by an Indigenous research paradigm which seeks to co-create knowledge with rural communities as experts of their lifeworld to "... shift the geography and biography of knowledge …" (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2019:46) and also show how local knowledge stocks of homeland communities are integral to an understanding of livelihood transitions and resilience in resource-poor communities. The paper also analyses rural homeland communities' survival and vulnerability reduction strategies through livelihood indices co-generated with local communities. This article, therefore, presents how grassroots actions in former homelands of South Africa provide an empowering community development praxis, emphasizing how knowledge collaboration with rural homeland communities can be an effective pathway for envisioning livelihood transitions and sustainable futures.
