Electrical fences make bad neighbors. The resurgence of grievances from historical large land acquisitions & current local responses to changes in access to land The Dolly Estate, Meru District, Tanzania

Abstract

This thesis broadens the land grabbing debate by portraying the renewed interest on land as part of an ongoing process of changes in access regimes to land and land based resources that influence the livelihood systems of rural stakeholders. It also recognizes the agency of communities to challenge large land acquisitions or negotiate better outcomes through time. For doing so, it builds a conceptual model that combines the different social, legal and technical mechanisms used to control and maintain access to land with social movements' theory. From an in debt case study analysis in the former sisal Dolly Estate in Northern Tanzania, the thesis concludes that new large land acquisitions in areas of land scarcity are nested in historical land trajectories. Therefore, new investors usually sublease the land from previous owners. When the change in ownership is accompanied by a change in land use, different access regimes are set into place. In the case study the land use changed from large scale agriculture into luxurious recreational, residential and farming enclaves restricting the access of local people. Villagers may contest changes in the access regimes when they result in detriments to their livelihood systems. Forms of protest are a continuum which includes everyday forms of resistance and overt forms of protest, including occupations. Direct actions can result in positive temporary changes or gains for the local communities.