Land in African Agrarian Systems

"Land in African Agrarian Systems" argues that proposals for sweeping changes in African agricultural land tenure are misconceived. Colonial administrators, African elites, and foreign aid donors have historically viewed the variety of indigenous landholding systems as obstacles to increased agricultural production and to economic progress in general, believing that only private land ownership will provide the investment security necessary for agricultural efficiency. This volume contends that privatisation is not the panacea for Africa's agrarian ills, and that any solutions must take into account critical social dynamics that influence how productive resources are acquired, used, contested and underutilised. Editors Thomas J. Bassett and Donald E. Crummey bring together specialists with a variety of perspectives on land tenure issues throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Whether focusing at the level of household, community or nation, these case studies describe how land access, control, and management are embedded in social, political and economic structures that fluctuate and change over time. They examine these embedded systems closely to illuminate the relationship between landholding patterns and agricultural output, stressing throughout that land tenure is a political process. The contributors, an international group of scholars in the areas of land tenure, geography, African studies, anthropology, history and political science, call for pragmatism and respect for the flexibility of indigenous tenure systems, while also addressing the complicated issues of state intervention, socio-economic differentiation, and the social relations of production. By looking at the social and political processes behind the struggles over productive resources, "Land in African Agrarian Systems" aims to advance the debate over the land question and agricultural performance in Africa, and to counter the arguments of the powerful forces pushing for privatisation. "Land in African Agrarian Systems" advances the debate over the land question and agricultural performance in Africa, and counters the arguments of the powerful forces pushing for privatisation.

Thomas J. Bassett is associate professor of geography at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and has done extensive research in the Ivory Coast.  Donald E. Crummey is professor of African history and director of the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  He lived in Ethiopia for several years, teaching history at Haile Sellassie I University