Universität zu Köln

Van der Wulp, Christa and Hebinck, Paul ORCID: 0000-0003-2349-8545 (2021). FIGHTING FENCES AND LAND GRABBERS IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE COMMONS IN N not equal A JAQNA, NAMIBIA. Afr. Aff., 120 (480). S. 417 - 444. OXFORD: OXFORD UNIV PRESS. ISSN 1468-2621

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Abstract

Livestock owners, elites and non-elites alike, from different parts of Namibia fence in land that belongs to the indigenous San people who collectively manage their land as a conservancy. Fencing violates the Communal Land Reform Act of 2002. The conservancy started a lawsuit in August 2013 with reference to this Act to remove the fences and end the illegal occupation of land. The High Court ruled in 2016 in favour of the conservancy, but the fences have not been removed and more illegal settlers have settled in the conservancy. We conceptualize and analyse the act of fencing as land grabbing but argue simultaneously that the legal battle of the conservancy is more than a struggle for justice. The case unfolds as an ontological struggle between actors, their institutions and respective policies and discourses, pivoting on conflicting visions of modernities of (rural) development in Tsumkwe West. The wider significance beyond N not equal a Jaqna is that the core of struggles about land and rights in situations of land grabbing is whose modernity counts. The court case has also paved the way for conservancies and other resource communities to become involved in dealing with land issues and contesting the multiple meanings of land.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Van der Wulp, Christa UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Hebinck, Paul UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0003-2349-8545 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-585969
DOI:	10.1093/afraf/adab017
Journal or Publication Title:	Afr. Aff.
Volume:	120
Number:	480
Page Range:	S. 417 - 444
Date:	2021
Publisher:	OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Place of Publication:	OXFORD
ISSN:	1468-2621
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language PROPERTY; RESOURCES; ACCESS; POLITICS; STATE; POWER Multiple languages Area Studies; Political Science Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/58596