Vernacular Approaches to Land Holding in Acholi, Northern Uganda

This research sought to address the lack of acknowledgement of the lived realities of Acholi land holding, which has been replaced by misleading caricatures of culture and kinship.

Northern Uganda escaped many of the most disruptive imperial land interventions, including expropriation for colonial settlement and the introduction of labour forces from abroad. However, the Acholi region saw displacement of some communities and the imposition of cotton cultivation. The colonial government regarded collective landholdings as inhibiting development, not least because it created difficulties for coercing cash crop production by individual farmers. Laws and systems allowing for formalised land ownership were created, but outside urban centres there was minimal take-up.

There is a lack of acknowledgement of the lived realities of Acholi land holding, replaced by misleading caricatures of culture and kinship.

Based on the researcher’s observations of Acholi landholdings over extended periods, this project explores the disconnect between practice and policy. Many of the land pressures common to much of Africa are in play: population growth, land degradation, deforestation, climate change and commodification. However, most Acholi land remains in collective hands, undocumented and unregistered. Case studies illustrated that the dynamics of Acholi land management are less about land qua land, but about belonging to a group, and the intimate governance of that group, responding in diverse ways to different land pressures.

Background

Pressure for land reform in Acholi has been building since the end of conflict in 2006. This was driven by external bodies: UN agencies, donor governments and international NGOs. National advocacy NGOs variously support and oppose particular externally devised and funded reforms.

However, while all these parties claimed to be acting in the interests of poor land users, there was a lack of acknowledgement of the lived realities of Acholi land holding, replaced by misleading caricatures of culture and kinship. The project explored how distortions of understanding and translations around customary social ordering have been the primary vehicles of colonial domination, new and old.

Researchers

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  Julian Hopwood

  Julian Hopwood has been based in Northern Uganda since 2006. Alongside local partners he works on post-conflict humanitarian and development programmes and policy. Julian is pursuing a PhD at Ghent University.

  Research interests: humanitarianism, resilience, justice, development policy

  Email: Julian.hopwood@gmail.com