Village land politics and the legacy of ujamaa

E. Greco

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The paper explores the question of whether Tanzanian villages and their institutional and political legacies can provide a legal and locational alternative to the individualisation of land. It is built on ethnographic data on village politics collected in Tanga, Morogoro and Mbeya region in different points in time comprised between 2007 and 2014. It is divided in three sections. The first considers the ujamaa legacies on Tanzanian village administrative and political institutions and the political weight of past top-down politics , especially in handling dissent at the village level. In the second section, village land politics are investigated under the light of the reform of the land laws (1999), to then underline the role of village authorities in collective land claims in Tanga region – an area of historical land dispossession then; and to illustrate how village land allocations occur in practice. The third section analyses data from three villages in Kilombero district, to reflect on the salience of village land politics and Village Land Use Plans.
Original languageEnglish
JournalReview of African Political Economy
Publication statusPublished - 24 Aug 2016

Keywords

  • villagisation, Tanzania, ujamaa, land, Village Land Use Plans

Research Beacons, Institutes and Platforms

  • Global Development Institute

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