Reading property in the landscape

Abstract

An important focus of research in landscape geography has been the documentation, classification and analysis of field patterns. This research has provided examples of how different societies and different property regimes leave their own very specific imprints on the landscape, many of which can still be seen. If this kind of landscape geography is to play a role today, it must be able to show that it can transgress both classification and simple evolutionary schemes and provide original contributions to the study of societies, property regimes and power. This article approaches this problem at two levels. I first discuss the historical role of boundaries versus the role of other ways of solving questions of land rights. Second, I take one particular field type – broad strip parcels (German: Breitstreifenfluren) – as a starting point for discussing the relation between societies, property regimes and field geometry. A field system in Marakwet in Kenya, which was undergoing change in the 1990s, will serve as the main empirical example. Property rights seem to be most clearly expressed on the ground during phases of transition and contested rights.

Keywords:

• Marakwet
• property
• strip fields

Acknowledgments

This article was conceived and written in its first version as a part of the Landscape, Law & Justice initiative at the Centre for Advanced Studies, Oslo 2002–2003, and was presented at its concluding international conference 15–19 June 2003; a preliminary version is printed in the conference proceedings (Widgren 2005). The article owes much to inspiring discussions on boundaries and the concept of property with Erling Berge and Kenneth Olwig, as well as comments given both at seminar presentations and by two anonymous referees. Thanks are due to Andrew Byerley for language correction. The information on land division in Marakwet was collected in cooperation with Wille Östberg and the late Johnstone Kassagam of the National Museums of Kenya, a brilliant field researcher with a sharp brain, who died far too early and who is sadly missed.