Strangers, Spirits, and Land Reforms

Conflicts about Land in Dande, Northern Zimbabwe
Erscheinungsjahr 2004
ISBN: 978-90-04-13957-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 3, 260 Seiten, Format (B × H): 166 mm x 241 mm, Gewicht: 503 g

Reihe: Afrika-Studiecentrum Series

This book describes efforts by the Zimbabwean government to enforce land reforms on African farmers in northern Zimbabwe. These efforts compounded rather than alleviated the problem of land scarcity for black small-scale farmers, a problem government now allegedly seeks to redress through invasions of white-owned farms. The book describes the similarities between the post-Independence land reforms and those attempted by the Rhodesian regime.
The land reforms in Dande rendered a considerable number of farmers officially landless. The book describes the resulting internal conflicts over land within the communities in Dande as well as the more concerted forms of resistance of these communities vis-a-vis the state. Attention is also given to the role the spirit mediums of the royal ancestors (Mhondoro) played in this resistance.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Spierenburg, Marja

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftssektoren & Branchen Immobilienwirtschaft

Über Autor(innen)

Marja J. Spierenburg, Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Amsterdam (2003), is Assistant Professor at the Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam. Earlier publications on natural resource management and spirit possession include The Quest for Fruition through Ngoma (co-edited with R. van Dijk and R. Reis. James Currey, 2000).