
People, Place and Property Rights
A Political Ethnography of Land in Molo, Kenya
Ulrika Kolben Waaranperae(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 26. August 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
130 pages
978-0-367-55994-6 (ISBN)
Description
For more than a century, property rights to land in Molo in the Kenyan highlands have been subjected to diverse reforms and desires. Colonial and independent state administrations have restructured land tenure systems to establish and maintain authority or alleviate landlessness. Meanwhile, people on the ground have developed their own ideas about property rights, place, and people. Via a detailed political ethnography, Ulrika Kolben Waaranperae uncovers the heterodox notion of property rights that has emerged as land has been redistributed, settlement schemes established, electricity lines drawn, and electoral violence mobilized.
The book makes an important contribution to the study of land and politics in Kenya and beyond by drawing attention to how conceptions of property rights are shaped by and constitutive of relations of belonging and authority. This relational view challenges the universal definition of property rights undergirding most contemporary land reforms. Instead, property rights are situated within the political and rendered legible for both definitional and distributional debates. In effect, land reform is posited as a fundamentally political undertaking.
The book makes an important contribution to the study of land and politics in Kenya and beyond by drawing attention to how conceptions of property rights are shaped by and constitutive of relations of belonging and authority. This relational view challenges the universal definition of property rights undergirding most contemporary land reforms. Instead, property rights are situated within the political and rendered legible for both definitional and distributional debates. In effect, land reform is posited as a fundamentally political undertaking.
Reviews / Votes
"Ulrika's writing style, skilfully intertwining theory with engaging accounts of lived experience, makes for a rich and compelling flow throughout this book. This book explains the politics around property in land in Molo, Kenya. In contrast to common conceptions of property in land as a legal or economic concept of universal validity, the book argues that, first, local contexts will inform understandings of what property in land is and, second, that those understandings will influence how people on the ground react to land reforms from above. By taking a heterodox approach, this book interrogates, builds on and challenges prevailing property rights theories." extracted from the Foreword by Spike Boydell, Series Editor, formerly of University of Technology, Sydney, Australia and Co-founder of Customary Land SolutionsMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Academic and Postgraduate
Illustrations
3 s/w Abbildungen, 3 s/w Zeichnungen
3 Line drawings, black and white; 3 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 8 mm
Weight
231 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-367-55994-6 (9780367559946)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Ulrika Kolben Waaranperae
People, Place and Property Rights
A Political Ethnography of Land in Molo, Kenya
Book
11/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
€231.00
Shipment within 15-20 days

Ulrika Kolben Waaranperae
People, Place and Property Rights
A Political Ethnography of Land in Molo, Kenya
E-Book
10/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
€63.49
Available for download

Ulrika Kolben Waaranperae
People, Place and Property Rights
A Political Ethnography of Land in Molo, Kenya
E-Book
10/2021
1st Edition
Routledge
€63.49
Available for download
Person
Ulrika Kolben Waaranperae is a Postdoctoral fellow in Global Politics at Malmoe University, Sweden.
Content
1. Introduction 2. Politics of property rights 3. Settlements 4. Redefining land and community 5. Property and belonging 6. Conclusion