The Matter of Matter: Making Property in the Holland Marsh

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper explores how characteristics of biophysical nature—specifically the unique properties of the Organic Order of soil—have shaped the conditions of property in what is currently protected agricultural land, in the Holland Marsh, Ontario. Drawing on political ecology and critical property scholarship, I investigate how “nature” conjoins, complicates, and structures property in the Marsh. I start from the premise, as others have, that “things” matter to the dynamics of property, and add to this by demonstrating that matter matters as well. Property in the Holland Marsh—and elsewhere—is a socionatural arrangement. I develop this argument by highlighting three periods in the history of the Marsh; (1) the preagricultural period, (2) the agricultural intensification period, and (3) the conservationist period. I demonstrate how biophysical conditions codetermine parameters of property in the Marsh and show how the dynamics of property change along with the biophysical character of landscapes.