Context in Land Matters: Access Effects and History in Land Formalization

Abstract

"This paper considers the influence of context on the outcomes of land formalization. We examine how contemporary and earlier forms of land formalization, some starting as early as the colonial era, have affected often disadvantaged social groups: ethnic and racial minorities, women, and land users who seek their livelihoods through mobile practices such as pastoralists, swidden cultivators, and migrant laborers. While drawing our examples from selected African and Southeast Asian nation-states, the paper addresses questions that are historical, yet fundamental to understanding how formalization unfolds in contemporary contexts. We sought answers to questions such as 'How have institutions governing access to land been formalized over the last century and a half ?,' How have conflicts over land control, access, and use been affected by formalization?,' 'Who were the beneficiaries or losers when land management and ownership institutions were changed?,' and 'How did early practices and ideologies of governance, including colonialism, nation-state formation, and non-capitalist political systems, influence expectations and practices toward land and livelihoods of diversely positioned subjects?.' Land continues to have profound and diverse sociological and psychological meanings to its tillers, owners, and aspirants. Formalization has the potential to affect social and socio-environmental relations far into the future; a historical approach can help assess new initiatives, literally putting them into context."