Land Commission Research Articles

Engagement as a Lever: The Impact of Talent Management on Turnover Intentions at Ghana's Lands Commission

This study examined the moderation effect of employee engagement in the relationship between talent management and turnover intentions of workers at the Ghana Lands Commission. The study used the human capital and equity theories to explain the relationships among the constructs. The study used the quantitative approach and structural equation modelling (SEM) and employed structural equation modeling (SEM). Data was obtained from 300 employees using a three-wave survey approach that assured accuracy and reduced common method bias, resulting in a final sample of 250 respondents. The study found a positive significant effect of talent management on turnover intention. Again, employee engagement was found to significantly reduce employees’ intentions to quit, showing engagement's protective role against the potentially negative consequences of certain talent management practices. Finally, the study found engagement as a significant negative moderator on the link between talent management and turnover intentions. This emphasizes the need to cultivate a work environment that promotes participation, equality, and transparency in people management practices to reduce employee turnover and increase organizational stability.

National Land Use Zoning Dashboard – Harnessing Geo-informatics Technology for Seamless Land Management and Conflict Resolution

Abstract. The National Land Use Zoning (NLUZ) exercise was conducted by the National Land Commission Secretariat (NLCS) in collaboration with other agencies of the Royal Government of Bhutan. The primary objective of this exercise was to harmonize all land uses on the ground and integrate spatial data across different agencies. Previously, such data had been created and archived separately within each agency. To accomplish this goal, a dedicated team was formed, and a baseline report was published in 2023. However, simply having a report did not fully support the objectives of the NLUZ. Therefore, an interactive dashboard was conceptualized to serve as a platform for integrating and visualizing all geospatial data. This dashboard will also provide analytical tools to guide decision-makers in the optimal utilization of the country's limited land resources. The development of the dashboard will utilize ArcGIS technology and will be customized using the ArcGIS Map SDK for JavaScript and the Calcite System Design.

Determinants of sustainable customary land secretariats in Ghana: An economic modelling approach

Land reforms in sub-Saharan Africa are transiting customary land tenure into a neo-customary land tenure regime. Accordingly, the Government of Ghana, together with its development partners, initiated the establishment of customary land secretariats (CLSs) to enhance the governance of customary land administration at the local level. Though this initiative is implemented with advances, events on the ground suggest a growing trend of inactive or dysfunctional CLSs. Synergizing an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and descriptive statistics, we used monthly secondary data from the Berekum CLS to investigate the determinants of sustainable CLSs in Ghana. The analysis revealed that the most critical factors enhancing the sustainable performances of CLSs in the long and short term are the cost of documentation, the timely preparation and delivery of documents, and gender-related matters. Moreover, there was strong evidence of a long-run relationship between the studied variables. Despite the strives for equal land access, women are still less privileged in the acquisition of land. The study portends that should authorities aimed at bringing CLSs closer to the corridors of sustainability, the mandate of the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands (OASL) and the Lands Commission (LC) should not just be the establishment of the CLSs but also ensuring their sustainability. A prioritization of the study’s findings by the OASL and the LC can enhance the patronage of CLSs in their established communities.

Examining Participation of Expropriated Owners in Compulsory Land Acquisition for the Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Project in Ghana

The participation of expropriated owners in compulsory land acquisition processes is necessary to maximise benefits, minimize the negative consequences and prevent actions or omissions associated with the implementation of the expropriation order. The procedure for compulsory land acquisition in Ghana starts with the government declaring an intention to acquire any parcel(s) of land within the territory of Ghana and ends with the resolution of inconsistencies and conflicts arising out of the acquisition. The main objective of the study was to investigate the extent of participation by expropriated owners of the Nzema East Municipality and the Ellembelle District in the compulsory land acquisition process for the Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Project. Underpinned by the citizen participation theory, the study adopted the mixed methods research design. The quantitative data was collected through a survey from sampled expropriated persons in 24 affected communities of the study area while the qualitative data was obtained through focus group discussions and key informant interviews. The study revealed that the mode of engagement between the expropriated persons and the expropriators was through information sharing, thereby limiting the participation exercise to the first rung of the citizen's participation theory. As a recommendation, the Lands Commission should improve community participation in the expropriation order by ensuring information flow and feedback at any stage of the acquisition process.

Chiefs, Courts, and Upholding Property Rights: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Sierra Leone

Abstract Land disputes are unavoidable and costly to resolve in the formal courts in contexts with weak property rights and low state capacity. In order to relax the pressure on strained formal courts, many countries permit parallel informal dispute-resolution forums. This paper studies the extent to which one such forum—Chiefdom Land Committees (CLCs)—in Sierra Leone is able to resolve land disputes. This paper constructs a data set of ligated cases at local courts across the country and implements a difference-in-difference design to estimate the effect of the CLCs on land caseload in the formal courts. Contrary to the policy goals, this paper finds that on average, chiefdoms with CLCs have higher land caseload in the formal courts three years on. By adopting the CLCs, chiefdoms plausibly made land issues more salient, but, instead of providing final resolutions, CLCs are conduits for the formalization of land disputes.

Evaluating the Positional Stability Status of the Druk Corsnet: A Preliminary Study

Abstract— The continuously operating reference station (CORS) that provides a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) enables precise location and height data for various applications such as site selection of important engineering projects and constructions and hazard analysis. Similarly, the most common applications of the CORS network, in Bhutan, are for engineering, cadastral, geodetic, and topographical surveys. In this regard, the consistency and dependability of the data from the CORS station are crucial. Moreover, the ability of such applications heavily depends on precise and reliable data from the CORS network. However, Bhutan has not conducted any studies on the stability, in terms of its position, and height fluctuation of the CORS station. Therefore, the goal of this study is to determine the positional and height variation of the 9 CORS stations that are operational in Bhutan between the years 2016 to 2022. Assessing the stability and dynamic behavior of reference stations in a CORS network is part of position variation analysis. It is feasible to identify and quantify a variety of geodetic occurrences by examining the time series of positional analysis. Analysis of height variation focuses on changes in orthometric heights throughout the CORS network. In our study, all the available GNSS CORS data are processed and the displacement in height and position is computed and compared. The analysis consists of a simple method (mean value subtraction) of time series data, which is computed and compared. The major findings show that the absolute mean standard deviation in the position of the stations was 5.49 cm, 6.36 cm, and 4.24 cm vertical (height), ease, and north horizontal component respectively. The findings highlight that the proposed method of determining the variation in height and location of the CORS stations is fairly practical and will help the user community to guide them in using the CORS network across Bhutan wisely. Similarly, the result of this study will be a relevant source of information to organizations such as the National Land Commission Secretariat (NLCS) as a means to augment the system in the future.

Navigating the Terrain of Digital Transition: Ghana’s Journey of Developing a Digital Land Information System

This paper explores Ghana’s two-decade journey in developing a digital land information system (LIS), exemplified by Ghana Enterprise Land Information System (GELIS) and Enterprise Land Information System (ELIS). Despite advancements by Ghana’s Lands Commission, manual processes persist and coexist with digital ones. Our study uses a qualitative approach to assess the effectiveness of the LIS implemented in Accra. This study found that Accra’s LIS is highly aligned with clear institutional mandates, roles, and responsibilities, as well as the availability of laws and policies to support analogue-to-digital conversion. Furthermore, a robust approach to protecting the data, operating system, and software underpins the system. Subsequently, the integration of a digital LIS has enhanced service delivery and accountability. Nonetheless, Accra’s LIS is still at the beginning of a comprehensive learning and development curve. Sustaining the LIS requires furtherance in the implementation plan, funding, law implementation, ICT strategy, divisional integration, work processes, data quality, and communication strategy. These findings will inform the next steps of improvement for Accra’s LIS and guide its nationwide scaling, contributing to discussions on technology acceptance dynamics in predominantly analogue environments.

Analysis of Trends in Land Utilization and Land Cover Dynamics in the Kwahu West Municipality, Ghana

The connection between people and the environment has been blamed for changes. Planning for sustainable development requires awareness of land use and land cover (LULC), its severity, causes, and implications. The purpose of this study was to generate maps that illustrate the land use and land cover within the Kwahu West Municipality and detect changes to identify and analyse overall patterns in LULC changes in the area. This research employed remote sensing techniques to assess land use and land cover alterations (LULC). This study used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) images from 2001, Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) images from 2015, and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) images from 2023 to detect and quantify LULC changes that occurred over a 22-year study period. Arc GIS 10.8 and ERDAS Envision 13 were used to pre-process the data. According to the study, built-up land and bare land rose in their respective areas and years by 10.675 km2 (or 2%), 18.421 km2 (or 5%), and 29.096 km (or 7%), respectively, between 2001 and 2015 and 2015 and 2023. The overall change from 2001 to 2023 was correspondingly 29.096 km. The results depicted a drastic change in the study area's forest vegetation, which can be attributed to a sharp rise in population, urbanisation, and other infrastructure projects. These changes have been determined to cause biodiversity loss and water contamination. It is recommended that the Municipality's Lands Commission initiate a public education campaign about creating local planning schemes for lands, especially in undeveloped and underdeveloped areas.

Land banking, land price and Ghana’s informal land markets: A relational complexity approach

Land banking practices have received little attention on how such practices shape informal land markets in developing countries. Drawing on a relational complexity framework, this study explores the land banking experience in Ghana’s informal land markets. This research conducted semi-structured interviews with over thirty participants from four communities within the Ghanaian informal land market. The analysis revealed that developers are banking large tracts of land as capital investments through land dispositions. The absence of development on these banked lands has created a situation where developers are gradually influencing land prices. The analysis also shows that developers have created complex ongoing relationships with customary land managers. This coalition relationship has shaped land prices through the displacement of state-mediated statutory powers for land exchanges. The study recommends revisiting of stakeholder discussions on the enforcement and monitoring of the processes required under the Ghanaian Lands Commission guidelines for large-scale land transactions.

That They May Possess the Land: The Spanish and Mexican Land Commissioners of Texas, 1720–1836 by Galen D. Greaser (review)

That They May Possess the Land: The Spanish and Mexican Land Commissioners of Texas, 1720–1836 by Galen D. Greaser (review)

Site Suitability Assessment for Petroleum hubs and Oil retail assets in the Jomoro District: A Hybrid Approach using Fuzzy AHP and VIKOR Method

Petroleum Infrastructure is indispensable considering the current local and global energy demands, however explosions from such establishments often cause loss of lives and properties within the surrounding communities thereby posing great concern to government and the citizenry. This condition calls for research that would provide meaningful solutions to mitigate this menace. Unlawful siting of oil refineries, petrochemical plants, berthing terminals, pipelines, storage terminals, oil and gas retail assets results from non-consideration of environmental impact on growing human population, competition for customers and lack of enforcement of energy standards. The study aims to employ a multifaceted approach comprising of suitability, proximity and spatial statistical analysis in assessing viable areas for developing petroleum hubs in the district. This study further investigated the efficiency of the method and level of compliance to standards set by the Ministry of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Town and Country Planning Department through validation using the newly acquired land for petroleum hub and existing filling stations in the study area. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data consist of locations of oil and gas filling stations picked with the Garmin handheld GPS and surveyed boundary of the land. The secondary data was obtained from the Survey and Mapping division of the land commission of Ghana. It comprises of topographic data, geology and soil maps from which soil types, lithology, roads networks, water bodies, terrain slope and land use features of the area were extracted and used. The dataset was reclassified and weighted using Fuzzy AHP and VIKOR. Spatial analyses were carried out using ArcGIS software to show areas suitable or otherwise for siting petroleum hubs in the study area. Results shows 67.44% of the area are highly suitable for establishment of petroleum hubs, 32.33% of the area falls within moderate suitability zones whereas the least suitability zones occupied 0.23% of the total area. The newly acquired government land for the petroleum hub project fell within the highly suitable zone confirming the validity of the studies in comparison with studies from field experts via environmental impact assessment. The proposed petroleum hub covered areas dominated by very high and high area suitability for its establishment constituting 75.9 km2 (90.3%) of its entire area whereas the moderate suitability zones constituted 8.2 km2 (9.7%) of the remaining areas. Towns situated in very high areas includes; Bakakole Nkwanta, Ahobre, Nawule, Allowule, Tikobo No.1, Edu, Damofu, Ave lenu and Ebonloa, Mpatabo. High areas comprises of Kengen Kpokezo, Alenda wharf, Tekyinta. Anwonakrom, Nkwamta, Elubo and Agege are among the moderate and low area zones for hub and oil retail assets establishment 75% of the oil retail assets complied with the required set standards whiles 25% defaulted. The integration of GIS techniques with multi-criteria decision analyses has proved to be an effective tool for selecting suitable sites for petroleum hubs, oil retail assets and very useful in determining places of high fire risk for proper planning of the area. It is recommended that the authorities and stakeholders put measures in place to educate, perform site suitability assessment and enforce set standards in establishment of petroleum infrastructure.

Hurdles to Knowledge Management Application in Enhancing Service Delivery at The National Land Commission Nairobi County, Kenya

Efforts to address the ongoing problem facing Kenyan communities may be summed up by the National Land Policy and the National Land Commission. The issue has exacerbated by the rapid transition from the traditional method of land ownership in Kenya, where land is held in common, to a scenario in which land is held by individuals and the affluent could gain an advantage over the poor without knowledge management and any pushback from the community. The study's focus was on the knowledge management practices used by the Kenya National Land Commission, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the quality of those practices and the services they provide to the general public. Therefore, the study sought to investigate hurdles to knowledge management application in improving service performance at the National Land Commission, Nairobi County. A descriptive survey methodology was used for this study. The sample size was 150 people including NLC managers, customer service representatives, secretaries and customers and it was selected using stratified random selection to ensure that it is representative of the institution as a whole. The study was able to gather both primary and secondary information through conducting surveys and scheduling interviews. Cronbach's alpha was utilized to determine the reliability of the research instruments in the Test-retest technique. Means, percentages, standard deviations, tables, and figures were used to display the findings of inferential and descriptive statistics performed on the gathered data in SPSS (version 23). The biggest barriers that hurt knowledge management implementations are awareness, time, and culture. Many KM programs struggle to gain traction because they aren’t marketed in a way that cuts through the noise and resonates with employees. The study recommends that the organizational management must understand where and in what forms knowledge exists. The organization need to create a culture that values and rewards knowledge sharing, providing employees with the tools and resources they need to share knowledge through knowledge management tools, training programs and communication channels. For the organization to achieve the goal of knowledge management practice, they should enable and promote a culture of learning and development, creating an environment where employees are encouraged to share information to better the collective workforce. The organization should brainstorm catchy terms and phrases to talk about KM, along with a logo or motto that aligns with the organization’s culture and values.

«The Official Position of Mr. Rychkov is Still a Mystery»: Centre’s Emissary K.M. Rychkov in the Altai Okrug (1917-1918)

The article is devoted to an unknown episode in the biography of ethnographer and journalist K.M. Rychkov during his service in Altai in 19171918. Using historical-biographical method, the author reconstructs for the first time the official and sociopolitical activities of K.M. Rychkov in the Altai Province. Based on extensive sources, the author reveals the role of ethnographer in the administrative and economic reforms in the Altai Okrug in 1917 — first half of 1918. As a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Provisional Government and then of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, K.M. Rychkov joined the bodies of the economic management of the region. When Soviet power was temporarily established in Altai, K.M. Rychkov was a member of the Revision Commission of Altai Provincial Land Committee, headed the Department of State Property Management at the Provincial Council, became one of the developers of instructions for reorganization of management in the Altai Okrug, promoted removal from power of pre-revolutionary bureaucracy. The author concludes that the ethnographer made a significant contribution to the process of reorganizing the administration in the Altai Okrug and influenced the nature and direction of transformations in the economy of the region.

The nexus between land title registration and property prices in Ghana: evidence from Accra’s housing market

PurposeThere is a long-standing debate about the relationship between land title registration and tenure security. Studies in the developing world point to a tenuous link between land registration and stable land tenure. The reason why people continue to register therefore becomes a mystery if tenure security is not entirely assured. This article focuses on the increase in property value as one such factor that induces title registration. Previous studies have quantified the economic impact of title registration on property values. However, the impact varies from city or country to another. The authors seek to investigate the extent of property value increment in Accra attributable to land title registration.Design/methodology/approachThe authors statistically analyzed a data set from two institutions (First National Bank and the Lands Commission) in Ghana using a quantitative technique.FindingsThe authors discovered that, holding all other factors constant, the value of the land in Accra increases by 22.6% due to land title registration. This shows that lessees must register to enhance property values, even though the essential due diligence must be done to make sure the acquisition is free from liens and legal disputes.Practical implicationsThis article highlights the implication of the findings for land administration as well as the practice of property valuation, development and brokerage in Ghana and Global South more broadly.Originality/valueThis is one of the first studies in Ghana to investigate the specific premium that housing markets put on land title registration.

Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction by Gordon C. Rhea

Reviewed by: Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction by Gordon C. Rhea J. Brent Morris (bio) Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction. Gordon C. Rhea. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2021. ISBN: 9780-807176269. 200 pp., cloth, $29.95. Reconstruction was hotly contested even as the United States took the first steps to rebuild—physically and ideologically—in the midst of the Civil War. The historical memory of the era has been just as fiercely debated. In the middle of both fights has been the subject of Gordon C. Rhea’s newest biography Stephen A. Swails: Black Freedom Fighter in the Civil War and Reconstruction. In his own lifetime, Swails became one of the most prominent politicians and community leaders in South Carolina, yet he was largely forgotten after the South’s counter-revolutionary “Redemption” of the late nineteenth century. His name and life story have occasionally resurfaced as the historiography of the era continues to move away from the Dunning school, and Rhea’s biography now serves as the [End Page 101] most powerful reminder yet of the part played by Stephen A. Swails in America’s “new birth of freedom.” After a brief preface, Rhea introduces his subject to his readers with a precis of Swails’s early life. He then follows his subject through his service in the Civil War. Swails was among the first northern African Americans to volunteer to serve in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment and fought with distinction in that unit for the duration of the Civil War. He was quickly promoted to the regiment’s highest noncommissioned rank—first sergeant, the highest then available to an African American soldier—and eventually became the first African American in a combat role to be appointed a commissioned officer in the US Army. After the war, Swails worked for the Freedmen’s Bureau in South Carolina, where he built a reputation as a strong and effective spokesman for both Black rights and fairness and efficiency when dealing with whites in his district. This skillset helped launch him into the forefront of Reconstruction politics in the Palmetto State and earned him the reputation as the “political boss” of Williamsburg District. Swails represented Williamsburg District at the 1867 constitutional convention, where he served on two prominent committees, chairing one. Once the new state constitution was in place, Swails was elected to represent his county in the state senate (an office he held for eight years) as well as concurrently serve as county auditor. In May 1868, he represented South Carolina at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where Ulysses S. Grant was nominated for the presidency. And when South Carolina cast its electoral votes for Grant, Swails was one of the state’s official electors (a role he would assume again in 1872). He was also elected the mayor of Kingstree and served as Republican Party chairman for the South Carolina First Congressional District, a state Republican executive committeeman, Williamsburg County’s representative to the state party convention, agent for the state land commission, commander of the state militia, and trustee of South Carolina College. Rhea attributes Swails’s success to several factors. As a Freedmen’s Bureau agent, he had developed close relationships with his county’s Black majority. His responsiveness to issues of housing, employment, and disputes over labor contracts had proven him an advocate for the Black voters of his constituency, and few voters would have not been aware of his role in coordinating the distribution of rations in the times of greatest need. He was a decorated war hero who had shed blood for his country and for the freedom of formerly enslaved African Americans, and his status as the first African American commissioned as an officer in the US Army gave him an unmatched level of prestige in the community. Formally educated, intelligent, Swails communicated effectively with constituents Black and white. Indeed, he also openly courted the white vote in [End Page 102] Williamsburg County and brought together an uncommon multiracial coalition of politicians from the Republican and Democratic Parties to facilitate the efficient governance of his constituency. Like...

Improving the Strategic Aspect of Federal Land Management

Federal land management is an integral part of land management. Improving the strategies within the Federal Land Commissioner’s office (FLC) would provide a more improved approach in federal land management. This research identified the current corporate and business-level strategies implored to address federal land management. The implementation of strategies differs vastly from the theories and the lack of continuous improvement steps within the organization has affected the organization to successfully evaluate the strategies and to exploit the strategic advantages that the FLC has. FLC could implement the recommendations provided to chart a more comprehensive strategic management objectives and goals in providing a better service delivery in the context of federal land management.

Brazilian Legal Amazon and the Theory of Agrarian Conflicts

The analysis of agrarian conflicts in the Brazilian Legal Amazon involves a theoretical and methodological endeavor to comprehend the essence of these conflicts in terms of class struggle and the ongoing territorial disputes in the Amazon region, and by extension, throughout Brazil. In this context, this paper employs the framework of Agrarian Geography in conjunction with data from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT) to map conflicts and murders in Brazilian rural areas and the Amazon during two time frames, i.e., from 1964 to 1945 and from 1985 to 2020. By doing so, this papers highlights the recurrence of barbarism in Amazon rural areas and its implication for Brazilian society.

Legal Reconstruction of Land Dispute Settlement Based on Justice Value

The purpose of this study is to analyze the weaknesses in land dispute resolution regulations, as well as to reconstruct land dispute settlement regulations based on the value of justice. The research method used in this study is a normative juridical method with data analysis based on a qualitative approach. The results of the research show that the settlement of cases through courts in Indonesia costs high, not to mention the long completion times and complicated court bureaucracy. Through the reconstruction of land settlement regulations based on the value of justice, the author offers a solution in the settlement of land disputes, namely being required to mediate before land disputes are brought to court. 21 of 2020 article 2 point e. In addition, a National Land Commission (KPN) must be formed in accordance with the Agrarian Government Regulation/Head of the Republic of Indonesia's National Land Agency No. 21 of 2020 article 3, this can facilitate the process of regulation of land dispute resolution based on the value of justice that benefits various parties in the field of financing, time and accelerates the resolution of cases of land dispute settlement which has long since piling up in court.

Effects of Social and Community issues in Inter-Ethnic Conflicts on Economic Growth in Muhoroni and Tinderet sub-counties in Kenya

Purpose: Inter-ethnic conflicts have had a negative impact on the global economic growth. In Africa, over $ 120 billion has been on spent on the vice thus affecting heragricultural sector consequently subjecting over 198,000,000 people to starvation and food insecurity. The Government efforts in mitigating the vice has bone no fruits as the number of deaths keeps on rising from an estimate of 7, 9 and 13 people in 2012, 2014 and 2016 respectively.The main objective was to assess the social and community effects of inter-ethnic conflicts on economic growth in Kenya.
 Methodology: Karl Marx’sConflict theory was adopted. A correlational research design was adopted.A population of 220 was considered. A response rate of 80.7% was realized thus affirming the significance and relevance of the data.The findings revealed that social issues had a negative effect with significant contribution to the economic growth (β=..666, p<.05) while community issues had a slightly weaker significant effect (β=.198,p<.05).Social and community issues of Inter-ethnic Conflicts had an effect on economic growth and accounted for 58.1% significant variance in economic growth (R square =.581, F(2, 217)=261.296, p=.000).
 Findings: The study concluded that the inter-ethnic conflicts in Nyando, Muhoroni and Tinderet sub-counties were the root causes of the stagnated economy.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommended various approaches namely enactment of legislation that can enforce punitive actions against the perpetrators; adopting multiagency approach in curbing the vice; stakeholder involvement and engagement in finding a lasting solution to inter-ethnic conflicts; the national government, lands commission and the members of the community explores ways to deal with matters land. There are efforts by the national government to foster peace through the administrative units and the county governments so as to avoid ethnicity. Significant progress has also been observed over the government’s commitment to narrow down to perpetrators of violence and hate speech causing fights. Plans that are put in place to oversee execution of justice should be enhanced and effective to ensure persons that become victims receive justice. The findings may aide the economic and peace integration commission stakeholders in advising potential investors as well as the government on promoting peace in the area. Scholars could also benefit by coming up with a model and more information in the area for guiding new researchers.

A Legal Confiscation: The 1851 Land Act and the Transformation of Californios into Colonized Colonizers

In 1848, the US Senate ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which held that treaty citizens' land claims would be "inviolably respected." Three years later, the US Senate passed the 1851 Land Claims Act, which violated the treaty by requiring private Mexican land grant holders to prove the legitimacy of their claims to the US Land Commission. This article examines Anglo-American and Californio settlers' efforts to establish legitimate landholding practices according to their culturally specific racial logic. By tracing encounters between the commission and Californios, this article argues that through their participation in the land claims process, Californios became "colonized colonizers" and were instrumental to statemaking in California.