A Spatio-Temporal Mosaic of Land Use and Access in Central Mozambique

Abstract

This article examines the spatial and temporal dimensions of access to land in Sussundenga District in central Mozambique. The article suggests that access to land is not only a socially embedded process, but is also spatialised through the area's history of settlement, colonial eviction, postcolonial resettlement, and war-induced displacement, creating a context of multiple and overlapping land claims and forms of authority to substantiate various claims. Consequently, land use and access is situated within a spatio-temporal mosaic signifying several interrelated and overlapping events that have created a patchwork of land use patterns and spatialised the forms of authority that produce the legitimacy to rule over people and land. When and where people requested and received land is in part shaped by the time period in which they settled in the area, creating distinctions between longstanding residents and recent arrivals. While no one reported being landless, the size, quality, and proximity to homestead differ between the long-term residents and new arrivals. By attending to the spatial and temporal dimensions of access to land in Sussundenga, how and why particular lands are subject to contestation, counter-claims, and in some cases, concentration in the hands of more powerful actors, becomes more visible and reveals the coexistence of multiple trajectories of social and ecological change.