Contesting Rights over Land: A Case Study of Landless Farmers' Social Movement in Lamphun Province

Abstract

"In this paper, I attempt to explore the critical history and the complexity involving controlling and managing land in rural Lamphun Province. Firstly, I clarify the difference between the state and local ideas of property rights, which is the fundamental cause of today's conflict over land, focusing on how farmers claim their right against the state. Secondly, I explore the cause of the struggles of landless farmers who have taken the direct action of reclaiming land based on the farmers' narrations. And finally, I analyze how landless farmers came to organize a social movement and how they legitimize their rights over land through the social movement, and examine the movement in terms of a learning process."