Chapter 7: Women, land and power: the impact of the communal Land Rights Act, by Aninka Claassens and Sizani Ngubane. This chapter examines the likely impact of the Communal Land Rights Act 11 of 2004 on rural women in South Africa. It... more
Chapter 7: Women, land and power: the impact of the communal Land Rights Act, by Aninka Claassens and Sizani Ngubane.
This chapter examines the likely impact of the Communal Land Rights Act 11 of 2004 on rural women in South Africa. It is based on research undertaken by the authors in the context of the legal challenge to the Act. The Act deals with the content and vesting of land rights as well as the powers and functions of the structures that will administer "communal" land. The chapter looks at the interplay between land rights and power over land.
In 2001 a new Land Law was adopted in Cambodia. It was significant because – for the first time – it recognised a new legal category of people, ‘Indigenous Peoples’ or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in Khmer, and it also introduced the legal... more
In 2001 a new Land Law was adopted in Cambodia. It was significant because – for the first time – it recognised a new legal category of people, ‘Indigenous Peoples’ or chuncheat daoem pheak tech in Khmer, and it also introduced the legal concept of communal land rights to Cambodia. Indigenous Peoples are not mentioned in the 1993 constitution of Cambodia or any legislation pre-dating the 2001 Land Law. However, Cambodia’s 2002 Forestry Law also followed the trend by recognising ‘Indigenous Peoples’. These laws have been both symbolically and practically important, as they have provided government-mandated legitimacy to Indigenous identities and associated land and forest rights, including communal land rights, and have been ontologically significant in dividing Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples on legal grounds. Over a decade after the 2001 Land Law was promulgated, this article considers some aspects of its effects. In particular, when compared with the potential for developing communal land rights in Laos, one has to wonder how advantageous it is to adopt Indigenous identities and the types of communal land rights and community forestry rights presently possible in Cambodia.
The Erin Ile and Offa boundary crisis has caused over fifty years of recurring waves of violent clashes that have resulted in many human and material casualties. The conflict has had dramatic consequences on the social fiber holding the... more
The Erin Ile and Offa boundary crisis has caused over fifty years of recurring waves of violent clashes that have resulted in many human and material casualties. The conflict has had dramatic consequences on the social fiber holding the two communities together, despite their proximity and historical relations. The unhealthy environment maintained by the conflict has further negated economic development in both communities with the destruction of economic facilities without adequate rehabilitation. While several Governments of Kwara State have made efforts to find lasting resolution to the conflict by securing and/or keeping the peace of the area, such efforts have not yielded desirable results, as the different interests in the conflict remain mutually exclusive. This situation is made more complicated by alternating government interventions and court rulings over the matter between 1972 and 2018. This paper investigates the conflict management situation, assessing its effects on socio-political developments and economic growth.
Communal land titling has become a popular tool for land-use management and governance in Southeast Asia in recent years, including in Thailand. In this paper, we describe how the community forestry movement in northern Thailand emerged... more
Communal land titling has become a popular tool for land-use management and governance in Southeast Asia in recent years, including in Thailand. In this paper, we describe how the community forestry movement in northern Thailand emerged and dissipated, and then transformed into a communal land titling movement. We then explain how the government of Thailand has recently chosen to abandon a stronger rights-based communal land titling process in favor of a less rights-based approach, albeit one that potentially provides considerable access to lands and natural resources as well as other associated benefits, but not without potential short-term problems and risks, and also risks and uncertainty for the future. We do not claim to know what decisions are most optimal, but the five case studies that we examine from Northern Thailand do provide insights into some of the potential dilemmas associated with entering into beneficial yet imperfect communal land titling arrangements. Ultimately, we advocate taking a hopeful but critical perspective to considering communal land titling options, whether in Thailand or elsewhere, and basing such decisions on detailed consideration of historical and present-day circumstances, and with the full participation of those who will be affected by crucial decisions, so that the best and most timely choices can be made, even if options are unlikely to be without some risks and uncertainties.
This article introduces the anthropology of property relations to indigenous Amazonia, where property has long been assumed to be absent, and shows that focusing on Amazonian forms of property can lead to greater understanding of native... more
This article introduces the anthropology of property relations to indigenous Amazonia, where property has long been assumed to be absent, and shows that focusing on Amazonian forms of property can lead to greater understanding of native practices and institutions. The article begins by showing that the Trio, Wayana and Akuriyo of southern Suriname have a wide range of practices and values which can usefully be understood in terms of property. This provides the basis for a discussion of the analytical importance of the anthropology of property for Amazonia, followed by a consideration of the place of Amazonian forms of property in the context of anthropological theory. [Key words: Akuriyo, Amazonia, control, creativity, leadership,material culture, ownership, property, Suriname, Trio, Wayana.]
Los campos comuneros son propiedades rurales de uso colectivo cuyo acceso es legi-timado a partir del parentesco entre sus pobladores. Se asume que sus orígenes son colo-niales y todavía hoy constituyen un tipo de propiedad ampliamente... more
Los campos comuneros son propiedades rurales de uso colectivo cuyo acceso es legi-timado a partir del parentesco entre sus pobladores. Se asume que sus orígenes son colo-niales y todavía hoy constituyen un tipo de propiedad ampliamente difundida en la región de estudio. Este artículo se propone explorar el surgimiento y el devenir de la propiedad indivisa hasta 1800, plantea una periodización del proceso e indaga en las prácticas de los comuneros a través del desarrollo de cinco ejemplos. PALABRAS CLAVE: Derechos de propiedad; Los Llanos de La Rioja; Campos comuneros. «Campos comuneros» (also called «mercedes») are collective properties based on kinship, that still continue to exist in Los Llanos region. The purpose of this article is to provide an interpretation of the emergence and fate of this kind of agrarian structure until the XIX Century and to propose a periodization of the process and an explanation of commoner s social practices.
This paper focuses on communal tenure reform developments (or lack thereof), referring to law, policy and practice in rural areas in South Africa. It shows that communal land tenure is not in a healthy state and discusses the following... more
This paper focuses on communal tenure reform developments (or lack thereof), referring to law, policy and practice in rural areas in South Africa. It shows that communal land tenure is not in a healthy state and discusses the following recent laws and policies that are symptoms of this ill health:
- the Communal Land Rights Act (struck down by the Constitutional Court); - the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act (passed in 2003); and - the 2014 Communal Land Tenure ‘wagon wheel’ policy (currently in place).
The paper also explores the historical roots of the insecurity of tenure with which millions of South Africans struggle, diagnoses some of the causes of the failures of communal land tenure reform and suggests some alternatives that might provide the remedies needed.
This article explores how village chief candidates can utilise a suburban community's understanding of public land use to mobilise political support, taking as its example the village chief election in Baleharjo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.... more
This article explores how village chief candidates can utilise a suburban community's understanding of public land use to mobilise political support, taking as its example the village chief election in Baleharjo, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. This article argues that, where village residents still rely on land for their welfare, candidates can politicise land grievances to gather popular support. In Baleharjo, the incumbent received the backing of merchants and investors from predominantly non-agrarian pedukuhan (hamlets) who felt that they had benefitted from the use of village-controlled land for tourism purposes. At the same time, the challenger recognised the hardships of farmers who had been deleteriously affected by such use of village-controlled land, and thus mobilised them on voting day. Applying a qualitative approach, data for this article were collected through interviews and participatory observation over the course of October 2018.
En la zona regada por el río Dulce en la provincia de Santiago del Estero se configuraron desde tiempos coloniales estancias indivisas habitualmente bautizadas con el nombre de su fundador. Algunos de estos “campos comuneros”,... more
En la zona regada por el río Dulce en la provincia de Santiago del Estero se configuraron desde tiempos coloniales estancias indivisas habitualmente bautizadas con el nombre de su fundador. Algunos de estos “campos comuneros”, resultantes de la práctica de no dividir las tierras a lo largo de generaciones, devinieron en nutridas comunidades de parientes que compartían tierra, agua y monte. También otros sujetos no emparentados fueron ingresando al mancomún a través de la compra de derechos y acciones, aunque parece tratarse de un fenómeno tardío en la provincia.Este artículo se ocupa de la transición entre el campo común y la propiedad individual en una zona específica de Santiago del Estero, irrigada por el río Dulce, aunque nuestras conclusiones puedan extenderse también a otras regiones. Uno de los puentes que se tendió entre las dos orillas mencionadas fue la figura del condominio, una estructura formalizada jurídicamente y pronta para ser disuelta a partir de un marco jurídico específico inserto en el Código Civil.
Following the 1994 transition from racial apartheid to democracy, South Africa’s government aimed to provide tenure security for the estimated 16 million black South Africans living in communal areas. But the lack of a clear legal... more
Following the 1994 transition from racial apartheid to democracy, South Africa’s government aimed to provide tenure security for the estimated 16 million black South Africans living in communal areas. But the lack of a clear legal framework applicable to most communal areas meant that progress was slow. In contrast, a viable legal framework did exist to guide tenure reform in smaller communal areas formerly known as “coloured reserves,” where a series of apartheid laws had settled people of mixed race. In 2009, land reform Minister Gugile Nkwiti designated one such area—Ebenhaeser, on the country’s west coast—as a rural “flagship” project. The aim was both to transfer land held in trust by the government to Ebenhaeser community members and to settle a restitution claim. Provincial officials from Nkwinti’s ministry, working with private consultants, organized a communal association to serve as landowner. They helped negotiate an agreement with white farmers to return land that had originally belonged to coloured residents. The community also developed a land administration plan that would pave the way for Ebenhaeser’s residents to become the legal owners of their communal territory.
