Colonial Land Research Articles

(Landlord) Theory from the South: Empire and estates on a Punjabi Frontier

AbstractTheory has occasionally shaped agrarian transformations. Utilitarian theory, for instance, influenced British colonial land revenue policies, while modernization theory spurred, via the Green Revolution, the development of capitalist farming across the global South. Yet scholarship, when it has probed the mediation of theory in agrarian change, has largely centred on the intellectual activities of Western figures. In this paper, I examine an under‐appreciated theorizing actor: landlords in the global South. I explore landlords' concept‐work in the former “Punjab Frontier,” a region where Baloch chiefs collaborated with the British Raj to acquire localized magisterial powers, a paramilitary apparatus, and immense “landed estates” (jagirs). To overcome various crises, certain chiefs engaged with various imperial concepts—namely, property, race, progress, contract, and freedom—and re‐arranged their estates. By showing how these elites creatively embraced these concepts to maintain a colonial‐fortified hegemony, I also challenge those who overstate the emancipatory and decolonial possibilities of theory from the South.

Mapping Indigenous Land: Native Land Grants in Colonial New Spain

In Mapping Indigenous Land, author Ana Pulido Rull investigates how Native nobles and painters used maps to intervene in land distribution in New Spain between 1536 and 1620. Mexico City’s Archivo General de la Nación (AGN) preserves over two hundred land-grant maps (mapas de mercedes de tierras) and appended court documents. While Pulido Rull focuses on fourteen maps, the volume’s findings emerged from an exhaustive examination of the genre’s corpus. In New Spain, painted maps were required evidence in land litigation, and the creation of a map was an essential step in the procurement of land titles. Pulido Rull shows how the design and visual conventions of Native-made maps influenced the outcomes of conflicts over land, arguing the cartographs represent subjective understandings of space. The analysis places renewed attention on the pictorial and legal processes that drove the commodification of Indigenous lands in the early colonial period, and further underlines the role of Native elites and painter-scribes (Nahuatl: tlacuiloque) in the legal history of rural land tenure.Each of the book’s five chapters analyzes the “visual-legal interplay” of maps and court records, many of which were transcribed for the first time by the author. Trained as an art historian, Pulido Rull shines when guiding the reader through the legal processes to acquire or dispute land grants. The author starts by examining the contradictions inherent in the Spanish Crown’s legal policies, which sought to incorporate Indigenous peoples and lands into the colonial system and protect Native communities from dispossession. Here, Pulido Rull illuminates how minor colonial officials, particularly Indigenous constables, shaped policies around land tenure. Particularly engaging are Pulido Rull’s nuanced accounts of Spanish schemes to delegitimize and ultimately divest Indigenous communities of their lands, resources, and profit structures.In the second chapter, Pulido Rull traces the preparation of a land grant map by tlacuiloque, arguing that “new challenges generated by colonial land requests and the new audiences the maps were painted for shaped the ways maps from this genre interpreted and represented space” (49). Interesting evidence for this claim is the example of the tlacuilo who used similar pictorial conventions to depict the primordial caves in the Manuscrito Tovar (ca. 1583) and later a land-grant map from Tenayuca. Yet, it is again Pulido Rull’s ability to invigorate court records through deep contextualization that reveals how Indigenous nobles and painters affected change within the colonial bureaucracy. This is especially apparent in the subsequent chapters, which take the form of case studies. Chapter 3 addresses how Indigenous communities used maps to acquire property. The fourth chapter examines how Native communities used maps to protect their territories and oppose Spanish land-grant requests. Finally, chapter 5 foregrounds the role of maps in land disputes, demonstrating how Indigenous communities resolved conflicts and negotiated better terms with Spanish administrators using maps painted specifically to accompany legal proceedings.Greater engagement with decolonizing approaches would have enhanced the author’s argument, which underplays the emergent material relations that cut through Indigenous connections to the land. While the author draws extensively on the interpretative frameworks of established scholarship, Pulido Rull excels at enlivening the multiple actors entangled in land allocation in New Spain. Free of academic jargon, the volume offers compelling portraits of how Indigenous communities confronted settler-colonial encroachment, which complements existing literature and is well suited to undergraduate and graduate students. Drawing on long-term research in the AGN’s Mapoteca section, Mapping Indigenous Land is copiously illustrated and enriches scholarship on cartography, property litigation, and spatial representation in the Americas.

Nautico-imperialism and settler-colonialism: water and land in the New South Wales colony

ABSTRACT This article outlines the role of rivers and oceans in colonial land 'settlement' in Sydney. The analysis exposes a form of thalassic colonisation, whereby territoriality was a defining feature of settler-colonialism in the first decades of the colonial invasion, but wherein claiming and/or controlling vast bodies of water was necessary to that territoriality. Britain was a maritime empire and Sydney a maritime town in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and there was a maritime pathway to early land theft in Australia. This archival analysis follows the colonial ships and Aboriginal nawi (bark canoes) to undertake a history from the water. Three nautico-imperial logics of settler-colonialism are presented. 1) ‘Aboriginal resistance and labour’ highlights the role of Aboriginal action against and incorporation into the colonial maritime economy and industries, and British Royal Navy exploration more broadly. 2) ‘Atomised colonial landscapes’ shows how Aboriginal Country was used as a colonial resource in the early maritime industries, with land claimed for ship building yards and whaling and sealing infrastructure, and trees felled for ship building. 3) Theorising the rivers and oceans as a ‘nautico-imperial infrastructure’ shows that water preceded land as a pivotal colonial infrastructure for the British maritime empire.

British Colonial Land Use Policies and Housing Development in Lagos

This paper highlights the changing pattern of town planning and housing development in Lagos between 1900 and 1960, a period that witnessed the implementation of several colonial housing policies. Existing scholarship has overlooked the role that colonial land use policies played in the uneven town planning and housing development in Lagos. Drawing on a large body of colonial records and secondary sources, this paper analyses the impact of the British colonial government policies on housing development in colonial Lagos. Archival sources collected from the National Archive of Nigeria, Ibadan, and The National Archive (TNA), Kew, and secondary sources were critically engaged through a qualitative historical method. The uneven and combined development concept is deployed in depicting the biased housing development policies of the British government in Lagos. The British colonial land use policies impacted negatively on physical planning and housing development in Lagos. Colonial town planning schemes, sanitation regulations, and building laws precipitated the contemporary problem of uneven development that has impeded inclusive development in Lagos.

Persistent Effects of Colonial Land Tenure Institutions: Village-Level Evidence from India

Persistent Effects of Colonial Land Tenure Institutions: Village-Level Evidence from India

How the Peruvian Agrarian Reform Affected the Human Rights of Peasants

The colonial land tenure in Perú affected the previously existing communal system of land tenure in several ways. This new system of ownership and forced agricultural labor changed over time. However, the semi-slave condition of the indigenous peasants of Perú remained the same until the late 1960s. The Agrarian Reform started in 1969 and had an unprecedented impact on the living conditions of peasants. This article claims that the life of peasants in latifundia before the Reform had been extremely precarious due to an inexistent set of fundamental human rights. Based on an analysis of articles, interviews, testimonies, and case studies this research explores the socio-economic and political circumstances under which the Peruvian Agrarian Reform was started. Moreover, it provides instances of the positive repercussions that the Agrarian Reform has had in Perú in the realm of human rights practice.

Surroundings: A History of Environments and Environmentalisms

Surroundings: A History of Environments and Environmentalisms

Mining the Truth: Representation of Land and Land Redistribution in Zimbabwe in the Daily News

The aim of this article is to scrutinise the way in which the concepts of land and land redistribution were discussed in the private media in Zimbabwe during the Zimbabwe land reform exercise – dubbed the “third Chimurenga” – that took place in the period 2000–2008. This study makes use of the framing theory. The framing theory is an adaptation of the agenda-setting theory and it talks about the way in which the media diverts the attention of audiences from the importance of an issue to what it wants to project; it places the issue in a field of meaning. This article firstly argues that although the ZANU-PF-led government stated that land was going to be redistributed to the landless black majority, the private media in general and the Daily News in particular reported that it was the black minority (the elite class) who obtained most of the land at the expense of the poor and middle-class black majority. Secondly, it argues that the land redistribution exercise was not meant to correct colonial land imbalances but was instead used by the ZANU-PF-led government as a means to avenge the referendum which they had lost in February 2000. The referendum was perceived as intending to change the Constitution in favour of the ZANU-PF. Lastly, this article argues that land, according to the Daily News, was supposed to be given to people (regardless of their race) who were making or going to make the land productive and not the poor, landless black majority. In order to authenticate the above claims and arguments, a number of the Daily News stories – purposively sampled during the period – will be used as examples.

Empire and Arab Indology

This article focuses on the Chouf-born poet, lawyer and translator Wadiʿ al-Bustani (1888–1954), who called himself a “Lebanese Palestinian,” as he moves from Beirut, to Cairo, Hudaydah, Bombay, Transvaal, and finally Haifa. The first to translate Tagore into Arabic after a visit to his Santiniketan in 1916, Bustani spent his life annotating and translating into Arabic the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and Kalidasa's Shakuntala . Alongside his self-professed and self-funded philological project, Bustani was one of the most important poets and lawyers in British Mandate Palestine, inspiring protest with his verse and litigating against colonial land policies. By focusing on Bustani's relation to British imperial culture, his political commitments in Palestine, and the contours of his indological project, this article uncovers a new history of global philology and an enabling colonial frame, long hidden in the many narrations of orientalism's travel and Palestine's colonization.

Forests to the Foreigners: Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Gabon

For the past decade, the land rush discourse has analyzed foreign investment in land and agriculture around the world, with Africa being a continent of particular focus due to the scale of acquisitions that have taken place. Gabon, a largely forested state in Central Africa, has been neglected in the land rush conversations, despite having over half of its land allocated to forestry, agriculture, and mining concessions. This paper draws on existing evidence and contributes new empirical data through expert interviews to fill this critical knowledge gap. We situate Gabon’s historic relationship with land, establishing the intrinsic relationship between colonial land tenure systems and present-day land rights. Our findings analyze the macro context of investors and investments, as well as the impacts related to rural–urban linkages and infrastructure development into the forests, civil society, human–environment relationships, and certification programs. While challenges continue to be experienced, the promise of Gabon’s first national land use plan—the use of sustainable concessions and mandatory forestry certification—offers a unique opportunity for Gabon to transition towards a future that better benefits its population while also protecting its natural resources.

Colonial Origins of Sons of the Soil Insurgency: Maoist Rebellion in Central India

ABSTRACT What is the role of colonial institutions in creating the conditions for nativist sons of the soil (SoS) insurgency? The literature on sons of the soil conflicts has not explored the historical legacies of colonial institutions, nor has it sufficiently analyzed how land tenure institutions create sons of the soil conflict. I address these gaps, by proposing a theory of how British colonial indirect rule and land tenure institutions in India caused exploitation of land resources of indigenous tribes by ethnic outsiders, which caused SoS grievances that persisted through path dependence and were later mobilized by Maoist rebels in the former princely state of Bastar in Central India. I show generalizability of this mechanism to other cases of leftist insurgency in Colombia, Mexico and Philippines.

INFORMAL PEACE-BUILDING ENHANCERS: THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN COLONIAL UZAIRUE LAND, NIGERIA, 1897-1960

This paper examines the roles played by women in the maintenance and sustenance of a peaceful society through the development of informal socio-economic institutions in colonial Uzairue land. It notes that the roles played by women in this regard have not received adequate scholarly attention. It further explores a socio-political overview of colonial Uzairue land, women in Uzairue worldview, and gender (women) theories, stereotypes and roles in Uzairue land. It uses the qualitative historical method which is narrative, descriptive and analytical. The data used for this research were derived from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data were derived from oral interviews through oral discussions and interactions (by this researcher), with selected interviewees during fieldwork in Uzairue land. The secondary data were obtained from relevant published materials including books and journal articles. This research examines the role of women in Uzairue land in the provision of a peaceful society, and the encouragement of socio-economic progress, through the provision of health care services, occupational and economic ventures. It views the concept of peace-building as efforts, techniques and approaches aimed at preventing conflicts, achieving durable peace, and stabilizing society politically and socio-economically. This study concludes that the instinctive roles of women as caregivers, comforters, peacemakers, and home keepers, and their respective participation and specialization in the provision of health care services, among other socio-economic ventures, undoubtedly encouraged the mutual and peaceful development of colonial Uzairue land. It demonstrates therefore that women are intrinsically linked with the peace-building process and overall development of society, and that they should be accorded high regards even in the contemporary period.

The American colonial state on display: the Philippine Library exhibit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition

In 1915 San Francisco hosted the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Included among the exhibits was one produced by James Robertson, the librarian of the Philippine Library. This exhibit fulfilled a number of functions. It directly tapped into one of the main discourses the exhibition's organisers wished to promote – the superiority of the people of the United States in comparison to the supposedly enfeebled Spanish society that had been dispossessed of their own colonial lands, first in California, and then in the Philippines. At the same time, however, the display moved away from earlier exhibitions that fixated on ‘primitive’ peoples towards one that highlighted a supposedly more advanced local print culture. This also contributed to a hegemonic project, in this case, within the Philippines itself, where the American colonial state needed to rule with, and not over, the local elite.

History and Prospects for African Land Governance: Institutions, Technology and ‘Land Rights for All’

Issues relating to land are specifically referred to in five of the United Nations’ (UN) 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and UN-Habitat’s Global Land Tools Network views access to land and tenure security as key to achieving sustainable, inclusive and efficient cities. The African continent is growing in importance, with climate change and population pressure on land. This review explores an interdisciplinary approach, and identifies recent advances in geo-spatial technology relevant to land governance in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). It discusses historical legacies of colonialism that affect the culture of its land administration institutions, through three levels of governance: international/regional, national and sub-national. Short narratives on land law are discussed for four Anglophone former British colonies of SSA. A wide range of sources are drawn upon: academic research across disciplines, and official publications of various actors, including land professions (particularly surveyors, lawyers and planners), government and wider society. The findings are that African countries have carried forward colonial land governance structures into the post-independence political settlement, and that a gulf exists between the institutions, language and cultures of land governance, and the mass of its peoples struggling with basic issues of survival. This gulf may be addressed by recent approaches to land administration and technological advances in geo-spatial technology, and by new knowledge networks and interactions.

Review: Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music, by Kyle Devine

Review: <i>Decomposed: The Political Ecology of Music</i>, by Kyle Devine

What to do with the chiefs? Revisiting the historical shifts and continuities of rural land administration and tenure systems in the former Transkei of the Eastern Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACT At least seventeen million South Africans live on ‘communal’ landholdings that are held in trust by the state under the custodianship of traditional leaders. Yet, traditional leaders’ land administration powers are undetermined, thereby impeding planning efforts and infrastructure provisions in South Africa’s rural regions. The aim of this article is to revisit the historical shifts and continuities pertaining to rural land administration and tenure systems during successive regimes by focusing on ‘communal’ landholdings in the former Transkei. In so doing it becomes clear how rural regions remain victims of colonial and apartheid land laws despite a quarter of a century of policy redress. Arguably, until decisive answers are established regarding traditional leaders’ land administration powers, residents will continue to live without municipal services and economic opportunities. Similar realities are also found across sub-Saharan Africa. Lessons from the former Transkei might then be relevant elsewhere despite situated differences.

Factors Shaping Exports of Cultural Goods from Pakistan

In the era of economic globalization, cultural goods trade has assumed a vital role in overall bilateral trade. It has become an emerging and transformative force behind socio-cultural-economic development and an important source of inclusive growth. Once virtually unlocked, trade in cultural goods is now fast growing with world-wide market openings. Trade liberalisation in cultural goods thus needs to be treated as a priority policy issue in multilateral and regional trade negotiations. Despite large potential of exports in cultural goods, Pakistan has been unsuccessful in realizing it. This is mainly because of lack of due attention given to it by the policymakers. In this regard, this paper makes a beginning to investigate the determinants of cultural goods exports from Pakistan for the period 2003-2012 with its 157 trading partner countries. The Gravity model is used to identify factors that determine exports of cultural goods. Six major categories of cultural goods are used for the purpose of estimation. Results indicate that size of Pakistan and its trading partner countries’ markets as well as distance among them are important determinants of exports in cultural goods. Specifically, cultural goods exports are strongly and positively influenced by the growth of the GDP in Pakistan, while the trading partner countries’ GDP growth negatively influence cultural goods’ exports. Distance, representing transaction costs and trade barriers, negatively affect exports of cultural goods; while colonial ties, common language, common border and land area of the trading partners positively influence the export of cultural goods. Exports of cultural goods to landlocked countries are lower than other trading partner countries.

Henry Rider Haggard’s Posthumanist Eco-consciousness1

In this essay I argue that the late Victorian and early Edwardian novelist Henry Rider Haggard had a distinct eco-consciousness that was reminiscent of twenty-first century posthumanist philosophies as early as the 1880’s. Writing his “imperial romances” in the wake of the beginnings of what is now called the Anthropocene age, Haggard observed and understood the changing relationships between the human society and the more-than-human world in this historical period. In a manner that would be unexpected of an author widely labeled as ‘a man of his times’—and therefore a pro-imperial propagandist—in postcolonial literary criticism, he was critical of the anthropocentric ways of western civilization. Ranging from a Darwinian notion of the oneness of all living animals to a highly skeptical attitude toward the reckless exploitation of the resources of colonial lands and peoples, Haggard’s Weltanschauung included notions that were not only antithetical to imperialist discourses, but also ‘ahead of [their] times’ by more than a century. In this essay I elaborate on Haggard’s posthumanist eco-consciousness with reference to his fiction and conclude that a renewed understanding of Haggard’s literary and intellectual heritage would show how his works are still very much relevant and valuable in our time.

Spaces of Conflict and Conflict of Spaces: Territory and Communal Conflicts in Jos, North Central Nigeria

Communal violence, one of the deadliest forms of political violence in Africa, has characterised Jos and other central Nigerian cities since the 1990s. With origins in colonial land and administrative policies at the inception of the city, communal tensions rooted in local elite competition over ‘indigeneship’ and entitlement to political and government positions, access to higher education and land rights have manifested more forcefully in contemporary time claiming over 5,000 lives. This article focuses on the relationship between collective identity, struggle for space and collective violence. It explores persistent attachment to territory by urban communal groups and violent conflicts over those territorial stakes. It does so because emerging research has focused on land rights, neglecting how conflicts structure territory—the living space—and how territory, in turn, shapes conflict. Inspired by the motivation versus opportunity framework, it relies on focus groups, interviews, oral history, archival documents and secondary sources to generate data.

South Australia’s employment relief program for assisted immigrants: promises and reality, 1838-1843

ABSTRACT Great Britain established the colony of South Australia (SA) in 1834, requiring that revenues from colonial land sales be used to subsidize passage for emigrants to SA. Their immigration contract required the SA government to provide emigrants unable to find private sector work with employment on public works. We use new data on the compensation of relief workers and private sector workers to examine how the SA unemployment system functioned before and after a major economic crisis began in August 1840. We conclude that the unemployment system provided highly compensated relief employment to a small number of migrants prior to the crisis. As the number of migrants claiming relief employment soared between August 1840 and October 1841, the government drastically cut relief compensation. The cuts occurred in tandem with the release of newly surveyed rural lands, which together provided incentives and opportunities for workers to move to rural areas to seek employment. Finally, a comparison of the SA employment relief program with a temporary employment relief program in New South Wales (NSW) shows that the NSW program neither guaranteed relief employment nor provided jobs for all assisted migrants without work in NSW during the 1843–1845 period.