Land Movements (Africa)

Abstract

The recent surge in large‐scale land acquisitions in Sub‐Saharan Africa has greatly increased emphasis upon land tenure and ownership and resistance movements. Driven by ecological changes, commercial agriculture, ethnic conflict, and population increase, access to land has become a major issue in multiple countries. New land movements have emerged which are focused on food sovereignty, indigenous crops, climate change, and resistance to the expansion of large‐scale farming and mining. Resistance movements quickly become politicized because African states claim ultimate ownership of their lands and water, enabling investors to gain access through the state with claims that lands are undeveloped. Many land‐tenure systems are embedded in kinship and hierarchical systems which had previously provided land security without titles. The enduring importance of land has led to oppositional movements and new framings of the value of African farming. Several movements have affiliated with La Via Campesina to establish new visions for food sovereignty, food self‐reliance, adaptations to climate change, and good nutrition. However, land movements have been defensive, and their priority is to protect local access to, and control of, land and other resources rather than future visions. With the great diversity of rural people's production, agricultural commodification, and threats to their social reproduction, sustained and successful opposition will be difficult.