Land use and land rights in the West African savannah: The Senufo in northern C^ote d'Ivoire

Abstract

The change in property rights in the West African savannah has been analysed in particular from the perspective of development policy, i.e. from the perspective of state regulation. This contribution, however, attempts to trace property rights from the perspective of the farming population in the savannah in the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire. For peasants, the change of law is part of a long-term process which had already started before the colonialisation at the end of the 19th century and is still continuing today. The changing law is not analysed per se but is rather analysed with reference to people's actions, out of which the sphere of life of the local population is constituted. The changing forms of farm work and of land usage play an important role in this respect. The change of property rights is inscribed in the conflicts with the state and state power on the one hand, and the changes of social forms of organisation on the other.