Gemma van der Haar | Wageningen University (original) (raw)

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Papers by Gemma van der Haar

Addressing complex realities and searching for synergy, 2015

Global Environmental Change

The last two decades, a variety of-mostly donor-led-initiatives have aimed at 'localizing... more The last two decades, a variety of-mostly donor-led-initiatives have aimed at 'localizing' land tenure registration, specifically in conflict-affected settings, making the registration of land rights more accessible to rural smallholders. In such settings, land registration is seen not just as instrumental to tenure security and economic development; but also to prevent land-related violence and promote sustainable peace. However, to reach such goals proves extremely complex. This paper explores discourses and practices of localized land tenure registration in Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). More specifically, we explore how these efforts are marked by the absence of reliable state action, by institutional competition, and by the risk of elite capture. We organize our discussion around three common assumptions about land registration interventions: that they will 1) contribute to clarifying and protecting land rights; 2) help the most tenure insecure, notably women, to strengthen their rights to land; and 3) prevent disputes. Based on our findings from Burundi and the eastern DRC we suggest that the expectations of registration efforts need to be tempered. On the one hand, localized land tenure registration risks to become part of the dynamics that reproduce conflict. On the other hand, it is not able, on its own, to create the more fundamental changes necessary for a sustainable peace.

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst, 1999

Agronomy Journal - AGRON J, 1998

Introduction: community and land reform in the Tojolabal Highlands 17 Encountering 'community' 17... more Introduction: community and land reform in the Tojolabal Highlands 17 Encountering 'community' 17 Multiple dimensions of community in the Tojolabal Highlands 22 Unexplored dimensions of land reform 24 About this book 26 A note on methodology 29 Notes 34 Chapter two Towards a region of communities 39 Introduction: the remnants of times gone by 39 A region of fincas 40 Revolution resisted 45 Cardenas' land reform 49 The changing fate of Chibtik 51 Land redistribution in the Tojolabal Highlands 55 A methodological intermezzo 63 Discussion: patterns of land reform in Chiapas 65 Notes 69 Chapter three The intricacies of land reform Initial hesitations 73 Land reform and processes of change 74 The times of the patr6n 75 The legal framework 79 The resistance of the landowners 82 Conflicts between communities 85 Conflicting claims: the case of Chibtik 87 Land scarcity and the cultivation of ambiguity 91 The politicisation of land reform 94 Discussion: the political consequences of land reform TOO Notes 103 Chapter four Land reform and the constitution of community log Introduction 109 From finca to community no Organising to obtain the land 114 The question of leadership 120 The allocation of land rights 123 Notions of property 125 The development of governance structures 130 The workings of de facto local government 133 Discussion: the constitution of community 141 Notes 147 Chapter five Privatisation and conflict in Chibtik 757 Shares and measures 151 Splitting up 156 Conflicting claims and definitions of property 160 Fencing the strips 164 Privatisation and processes of exclusion 169 Land rights and community jurisdiction 172 Reworking notions of community 176 Discussion: land scarcity and privatisation 177 Notes 181 Chapter six Land occupations under the banner ofZapatismo 187 The uprising 187 Reviving Zapata 189 Land redistribution under siege 194 Land tenure under Zapatismo 197 Old and new communities 201 Discussion: taking land reform to its limits 204 Notes 208 Chapter seven Autonomy at the margins of the law 209 The deadlock over indigenous autonomy 209 Zapatista autonomous municipalities 210 Beyond the community 215 The approach of war 218 Autonomous municipalities under fire 221 Rival claims to government 225 Discussion: Autonomy as a challenge 229 Notes 234 Chapter eight Fields of contention: land reform between endowment and appropriation 239 Three observations and a paradox 239 Ejjidos and the state 240 Land reform and state formation 245 The'production'of community 250 Fields of contention 255 Community, boundedness, and identity 258 Final considerations 261 Notes 265 References 269 Glossary 2jj Resumen 279 Samenvatting 283 Curriculum vitae 287 This book owes a great deal to coincidence and circumstance as well as to the encouragement and support of many people. In accounting for the first and expressing my indebtedness to the latter, I shall go a bit further back in time than is perhaps common. I need, however, to explain, not only how this book came about, but also why it concerns Chiapas in the first place. Somehow, it all started with my mother's attentiveness. My eagerness to 'see something of the world' and 'get to know other cultures' might never have taken me anywhere, had she not seen an ad in the paper about an international high school. Thanks to the United World College network and funding, I spent two intensive, instructive years in a small but globalised village on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Amongst my best friends there were two Mexicans. When I decided to take a year off and work as a volunteer somewhere, Alberto Diaz and Lizzy Gomez mobilised their networks in Mexico. I ended up in Comitan, Chiapas-which at the time had none of the prominence on the world map it has today-with a team of pastoral workers from the San Cristobal diocese. The ten months there were tough but decisive. Heike da Costa had kindly taught me my first Spanish while I was still at home. In Comitan, a new challenge awaited me: Tojolabal. What would I have done without the enthusiastic instruction of Martin Lopez and the language material prepared by Karlos Lenkersdorf? Members of the pastoral teams of Kastalia and the Mision de Guadalupe shared with me their belief in a better world. Martin Lopez and Pedro Villafuerte introduced me to the Tojolabal communities with patience and infectious enthusiasm. My friendship with Monica Drewes and the encouragement of Alejandro Guevara kept me going when I thought I could not take it any more. But it was the families of Honduras-Piedra Huixtla that shared their food and their life with me while I made an only partly successful attempt to teach their children to read and write that made Chiapas unforgettable. Having decided I was probably more of an academic than a missionary, I went to Wageningen. Throughout my studies, Chiapas was always at the back of my mind. Wout van den Bor, then head of the Department of Agricultural Education, supported my plan to write my master's thesis on indigenous primary school teachers in eastern Chiapas. I soon knew this would not be my last visit. The reencounter with the people from Piedra Huixtla and neighbouring communities tbuched me deeply. The more I learned, the more my fascination grew.

Wageningen University & Research, 2018

... Dion van den Berg, Linda Schrevers and Jitske Hoogenboom provided valuable comments to a draf... more ... Dion van den Berg, Linda Schrevers and Jitske Hoogenboom provided valuable comments to a draft version of this document. Page 2. 2 ... Koenders, B. (2007) Een zaak van iedereen: investeren in ontwikkeling in een veranderende wereld. ...

This book offers a critical reflection on current land policies in Latin America. Privatization a... more This book offers a critical reflection on current land policies in Latin America. Privatization and individualization of land rights, the corner stone of these policies, are analyzed from different perspectives. Attention is paid to the process of institutional reform and underlying assumptions, indicating some of the major shortcomings and ambiguities. The operation of free land markets is analyzed in relation to its implications for production, social goals (e.g., the rights of women and indigenous people), and sustainable resource management. The book includes a number of case studies from Costa Rica, Mexico, Bolivia, and Honduras, address the complexities of land tenure regulation. This book includes contributions by economists, sociologists, agronomists, historians, anthropologists, and geographers. By bringing about a better understanding of the implications of current land policy and generating concrete policy recommendations it aims to make a positive contribution to the land debate. It is the most comprehensive evaluation to be made of the land policies implemented in Latin America since the 1980s.