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Land conflicts and social differentiation in eastern Uganda*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2017

Matt Kandel
Matt Kandel*
Affiliation:
Development Studies, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, UK
*
Email: mattkandel@gmail.com
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Abstract

Rising competition and conflict over land in rural sub-Saharan Africa continues to attract the attention of researchers. Recent work has especially focused on land governance, post-conflict restructuring of tenure relations, and large-scale land acquisitions. A less researched topic as of late, though one deserving of greater consideration, pertains to how social differentiation on the local-level shapes relations to land, and how these processes are rooted in specific historical developments. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, this paper analyses three specific land conflicts and situates them within a broad historical trajectory. I show how each dispute illuminates changes in class relations in Teso since the early 1990s. I argue that this current period of socioeconomic transformation, which includes the formation of a more clearly defined sub-regional middle class and elite, constitutes the most prominent period of social differentiation in Teso since the early 20th century.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , September 2017 , pp. 395 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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Footnotes

*

I would like to thank Catherine Boone, Ben Jones, and Don Robotham for providing helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank the editors and two anonymous reviewers, whose comments greatly strengthened the paper.

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