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A Socio-legal Analysis of the Complexity of Litigating Ancestral Land Rights

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Land Tenure Challenges in Africa

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Abstract

Indigenous people are engaged in legal battles to restore their rights to their land. They are not only seeking to undo the injustices of the past, but also ways to improve their livelihoods. Finding a legal way to address their rights to their ancestral lands has evolved as an important politico-legal instrument. Backed by litigators, international treaties, concerned scholars and funding arrangements litigating on ancestral land rights matters has emerged as an important ‘weapon of the weak’. Reclaiming their land appears not so easy and is not so straight forward. We address the recurrent issues, the pitfalls, the challenges that emerge during and after litigation which is only one of the many steps in restoring rights.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    When UNDRIP was adopted in September 2007, 35 African countries became signatories to it, while 3 African countries abstained from voting and 15 African countries were absent when voting took place. See, https://www.un.org/press/en/2007/ga10612.doc.htm.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Strathclyde Centre for Environmental Law & Governance (SCELG), University of Strathclyde Law School, Glasgow, UK

    Willem Odendaal

  2. Sociology of Development and Change Group At, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Paul Hebinck

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  1. Willem Odendaal
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  1. Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Horman Chitonge

  2. Director of research and programmes, Good Governance Africa, johannesburg, South Africa

    Ross Harvey

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Odendaal, W., Hebinck, P. (2021). A Socio-legal Analysis of the Complexity of Litigating Ancestral Land Rights. In: Chitonge, H., Harvey, R. (eds) Land Tenure Challenges in Africa. Economic Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82852-3_12

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