Webinar: This is God’s land: Land seizures as a mechanism of land access

CASAS’ member, Johannes Bhanye (University of Free State) presented his work in a Webinar organized by Rama Dalla Sieng (CASAS & University of Edinburgh).

This webinar by Dr. Johannes Bhanye is part of the DSA’s Land, Politics and Sustainability Study group webinar series is convened by Dr. Rama Salla Dieng, Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

Urban and peri-urban farming have recently become common phenomena across much of Southern Africa. However, access to land for urban farming remains a hurdle for marginalised populations, particularly migrants. Using ethnographic inquiry, the paper explores how desperate Malawian migrants (herein referred to as Lydiatians) at Lydiate informal settlement in Zimbabwe adopt land seizures to acquire the much-coveted land for peri-urban farming. Situated in insurgent citizenship theory, the study reveals that migrants are innovators capable of devising mechanisms to acquire highly sought-after resources like land. In Lydiate, migrants invented personal initiatives like land seizures or self-allocation to acquire land. The self-allocation practices challenge the dominant narratives of land ownership and citizenship, highlighting the agency of marginalised populations in redefining their rights and belonging. The invocation of cultural and symbolic elements, such as the notion of “this is God’s land” and the use of the Nyau cult and witchcraft, reveals the complex ways in which migrants negotiate their positionality and assert their claims to land. This challenges traditional conceptions of citizenship and calls for a more inclusive understanding that recognises the diverse strategies employed by marginalised groups to claim their rights and assert their identities in foreign African city spaces.

You can check the full Webinar on this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INuFCW8UcSA

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