Community and conservation land ownership in highland Scotland: A common focus in a changing context

Legislation on the topic of land reform will enter statute during the lifetime of the first administration of the Scottish Parliament. It is thus timely to review types of land ownership that have evolved in Scotland in the recent past. This paper briefly reviews the context of the current land reform debate. It considers the characteristics of community and conservation ownership, exemplified in case studies of the North Assynt Estate (owned and run by the Assynt Crofters Trust) and the Sandwood Estate (owned by the John Muir Trust). Positive and negative aspects of these two management structures are illustrated and a convergence in management approaches, towards a focus on community interest and involvement, is demonstrated. The emergence of a social sector in land ownership is considered.     

Unsettled Rights: Afro-descendant recognition and ex-situ titling in Colombia

Ethnic recognition and collective titling have since the second half of the 20th century been promoted as ways of compensating for historical injustices and countering the destructive effects of capitalist development. While holding promise of autonomy, territorial rights, and resource control, they have also been seen as political technologies governing, spatially tying identities to place, and incorporating new areas into capital market relations. This paper draws on and contributes to these debates by exploring how the Colombian legislation for Afro-descendants ethnic recognition and collective titling is understood, employed and ‘reworked’ from below as well as from above. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and document analysis, the paper follows the case of an Afro-descendant sand-extracting community in the Cauca Valley Region, Colombia. Threatened by a competing mining claim, the villagers seek to gain ethnic recognition among other things to secure rights and control mining resources. In the process, the villagers are offered a land plot away from where they live and work to title as their collective territory; a mechanism that I term ‘ex-situ titling’. As the villagers have no prior relation to the land, nor intend to resettle there, I argue that the ex-situ land titling only serves as a procedural step in the process of ethnic recognition, which, nevertheless, contributes to the uncertainty and incertitude around the villagers' ethnic rights and resource control.     

Troubled Encounters: Payments for Ecosystem Services in Chiapas,Mexico

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) is a well-established conservation policy approach worldwide. Where forests are owned and managed by rural and indigenous communities, PES initiatives often aim to incentivize the joint adoption of forest protection and sustainable management practices. However, not all communities might have the will or capacity to maintain such practices over the long term. This article examines a PES programme in a rural community of Chiapas, Mexico. It shows that while a majority of the community's landowners have engaged in PES through two distinct working groups, a large share of the community forests remain outside the PES programme, and many landowners resist the extension of PES rules to non-targeted forests. The authors argue that this incipient form of fragmented collective action on forest management results from challenged leaderships, and from PES accommodating a history of increasing individuation of the commons. This accommodation, however, has ignited social conflict, reified tenure inequalities, and failed to strengthen local institutions to enable them to legitimately deal with the contested interests that underpin the fate of community forests. This article shows the limits of PES when parachuted into a context of uneven land tenure, weak collective action and contested leaderships.     

Local Histories,Global Markets: Cocoa and Class in Upland Sulawesi

Research and policy concerning the Southeast Asian uplands have generally focused on issues of cultural diversity, conservation and community resource management. This article argues for a reorientation of analysis to highlight the increasingly uneven access to land, labour and capital stemming from processes of agrarian differentiation in upland settings. It draws upon contrasting case studies from two areas of Central Sulawesi to explore the processes through which differentiation occurs, and the role of local histories of agriculture and settlement in shaping farmers’ responses to new market opportunities. Smallholders have enthusiastically abandoned their diversified farming systems to invest their land and labour in a new global crop, cocoa, thereby stimulating a set of changes in resource access and social relations that they did not anticipate. The concept of agency drawn from a culturally oriented political economy guides the analysis of struggles over livelihoods, land entitlements, and the reconfiguration of community, as well as the grounds on which new collective visions emerge.     

Engaging territorio cuerpo-tierra through body and community mapping: a methodology for making communities safer

We propose a new way of collectively creating data about gender violence through active participation and mapping women’s bodies and communities. We see this process of data creation, self-awareness and action as inherently linked to the native concept territorio cuerpo-tierra, the landscape of bodies-lands. The concept erases Western notions separating bodies and land and helps to decenter the public–private divide, which is an important obstacle to eliminating violence against women. Drawing on data from our work with Mexican women in the, U.S. and Mexico, we illuminate the continuity of women’s individual bodily experience of violence and collective spatial knowledge of community safety. We conclude that the process and outcomes of body and community mapping linking bodies and land, afford planners the prospect of engaging as partners and co-actants with community members in the goal of making places safe for women.     

The Impact of Privatization on Land Inheritance among Samburu Pastoralists in Kenya

Privatization of communal land among a community of pastoralists in northern Kenya creates a gap in social institutions relating to land inheritance. This analysis shows that the emergence of a new rule for inheritance is a complex social process and that new rules do not arise automatically. Using theories of institutions and collective action, this study examines the process through which rules of inheritance are emerging in Siambu since land privatization. Drawing on in‐depth interviews, observations and household surveys, this study reveals why collective action around inheritance norms has been difficult to achieve. In the absence of such action, no single norm of inheritance has emerged. Rather, several different practices currently co‐exist. A considerable amount of evidence suggests that livestock inheritance rules that favour eldest sons will become the norm for land as well, but there are also reasons to doubt this outcome. What this case demonstrates is that institutional gaps are not necessarily or automatically filled; institutions do not simply arise when needed. When collective action fails, multiple practices and norms may co‐exist leading to a certain degree of institutional instability.     

Organizing against Land Grabbing in Cambodia: Exploring Missing Links

Using a case study of Prey Lang Community Network (PLCN) in Cambodia, this article adds to emerging literature on local responses to land grabbing. While much of this literature has focused on political opportunity structures, this article looks at the agency of local groups organizing in response to land grabbing. Noting that organization and connections have been ‘missing links’ in the literature, the authors draw on thinking on collective action and social networking. Their findings highlight the importance of identity politics in the development of movements responding to land grabbing. Transnational discourses and external support also play a significant role in local responses to land grabbing in general, and in the modest success achieved by the PLCN in particular. All this complicates the traditional understanding of political opportunity structures and calls for a more dynamic approach.     

南京市社区服务设施可达性的空间格局与低收入社区空间剥夺研究

社区服务设施的空间可达性事关城市公共资源分配的社会公平与公正,是反映城市居民生活质量的重要标志。以南京市居住用地作为基本分析单元,对南京市的教育、医疗、商业和公园绿地四大类社区服务设施的空间可达性进行分析;并通过对相关低收入社区的实地调研,研究城市边缘区低收入群体的服务设施空间剥夺问题。研究表明：南京市四类服务设施的可达性水平均呈现出由城市中心区向郊区衰减的空间分异格局;较低的社区服务设施可达性不仅直接造成低收入社区居民对社区服务设施较低的满意度,导致其空间剥夺感的产生,还极大地阻碍着社区归属感的形成,导致社区居民强烈的迁居欲望,在他们较低的支付能力下进一步加剧其空间剥夺感。政府未来在规划面向低收入群体的保障性社区时,更应注重相关服务配套设施建设,做到社会与空间的公正性。     

Hill of Thorns: Custom,Knowledge and the Reclaiming of a Lost Land in the New South Africa

This article provides a detailed ethnographic exploration of a case of land restitution in South Africa. It shows how the development discourse invoked during the process of reclaiming land, rather than being imposed in an entirely top‐down manner, has been the result of negotiations between those claiming and those — in government and NGOs — who have helped them claim. The resulting knowledge about the ownership and appropriate governance of land reveals a complex and often contradictory understanding of concepts like ‘custom’, ‘community’ and ‘power’.     

社区参与和旅游社区一体化研究

社区参与被视为旅游业可持续发展的重要内容和环节,但由于社区参与在实施过程中受到社区经济发展水平、体制、政策、居民价值观念等诸多因素的影响,制约了社区参与的程度和效果。本文从这一角度出发,对社区一体化思想理念的形成、内涵、思想构架和制约因素进行了深入阐述,旨在为我国社区参与的有效实施和社区旅游的可持续发展提供理论参考。     

基于空间界面理论乡村社区选址研究——以河南省晴岚社区为例

空间界面理论是乡村社区选址的适宜理论。在分析传统农村聚落区位选址中空间界面取向及其演变、新形势下农户择居需求等基础上,得出乡村社区选址大致有四种倾向:城镇边缘区、交通沿线、产业集聚区外围、其他资源指向等。利用空间界面理论中的避害原则、就近原则、功能原则、加成原则,认为河南省商丘市柘城县晴岚社区的选址是合理的,接近于理想中的最佳区位。     

Migration,common property,and communal labor: cultural politics and agency in a Mexican village

This article examines the politics of migration in an indigenous Oaxacan village (Mexico), and finds that the village acts, with measured success, to shape the timing and rhythm of migration. Villagers regard migration as necessary yet problematic. Migration provides income for village families yet undercuts traditions of community service and disrupts the integrity of local development networks that link the community to NGOs, state bureaucracies, and product markets. As a consequence, villagers engage in a cultural politics of negotiation and contestation that moulds both the meanings of migration, and the village social practices that regulate migration. Regulation operates via the setting of norms for village communal labor participation: those who do not undertake assigned tasks (cargos and tequios) face loss of usufruct of communal lands. This finding of strong sending community agency is contrasted with recent migration studies that emphasize the agency of migrant networks and transnational spaces. The paper presents a case study of migration that examines the exercise of community agency via collective labor participation, and the study concludes by calling for a greater analytical focus on the cultural politics of sending communities.     

Ethnic Emancipation and Urban Land Claims: Disenfranchisement of the Ga of Accra,Ghana

Several Sub‐Saharan African countries have experienced an upsurge of land claims by various ethnic groups whose lands were acquired by both the colonial and the post‐colonial State through compulsory acquisition. Ethnicity has been used as the basis of emancipating some ethnic groups from perceived disenfranchisement and impoverishment caused by the State acquiring their land. In some cases such land claims result in violence that threatens the social fabric of these countries. An urban example of such a land claim has been made by the GaDangme Council (GDC) in Ghana. This paper assesses the land claim by GDC and argues that its claim of disenfranchisement is more a perception than reality. The paper also investigates why GDC perceives the Ga ethnic group as impoverished and disenfranchised. It concludes by providing structural and pragmatic ways for solving problems centred on Ga land acquisition by the State. Resolving the Ga case may provide lessons for other countries experiencing similar problems.     

Constituencies of conflict and opportunity: Land rights,narratives and collective action in Darfur

Grievance-based narratives are a primary component of civil wars. While present among the general population affected by conflict, the variants held by the segment of the population most proximate to the armed factions – constituencies – play a primary role in the development and conduct of a conflict. Such narratives can coalesce around specific volatile issues and enable non-combatant constituencies to participate in the conflict through the use of specific 'legalities' or legal precepts. These legalities facilitate the engagement of sets of collective action that are opposed to those derived by constituencies of the opposing side. However such constituencies and their narratives are also where potential opportunity resides for peace-building, both during and subsequent to hostilities. This article looks at the case of Darfur to examine these ingredients, with a focus on land rights as the volatile set of issues around which narratives have developed. In Darfur, opposed narratives which maintain how and why groups claim and deserve access to land and territory, and how groups were unjustly displaced or excluded from lands (and hence power), became solidified and acted upon prior to the conflict to become a primary driver in the current war. In certain cases however narrative change has led to interaction between members of opposed constituencies for the purpose of exploring cooperative arrangements.     

Revamping community‐based conservation through participatory research

Community‐based conservation is experiencing a crisis of identity and purpose as a result of a disappointing track record and unresolved deficiencies. The latter include over‐simplified assumptions and misconceptions of “community,” the imposition of externally designed and driven projects at the community level, a focus on conservation outcomes at the expense of community empowerment and social justice, and limited attention to participatory processes. New approaches are urgently needed to address these weaknesses and to counter a rising trend towards environmental protectionism and a preference for conservation approaches at an eco‐regional scale that threaten the interests of local and Indigenous communities. We propose that three core principles of community‐based participatory research (CBPR)—(1) community‐defined research agenda; (2) collaborative research process; and (3) meaningful research outcomes—hold much promise. Drawing on the experience of a research partnership involving the James Bay Cree community of Wemindji, northern Quebec, and academic researchers from four Canadian universities, we document the process of applying these principles to a community‐based conservation project that uses protected areas as a political strategy to redefine relations with governments in terms of a shared responsibility to care for land and sea. We suggest that basic assumptions of CBPR, including collaborative, equitable partnerships in all phases of the research, promotion of co‐learning and capacity building among all partners, emphasis on local relevance, and commitment to long‐term engagement, can provide the basis for a revamped phase of community‐based conservation that supports environmental protection while strengthening local institutions, building capacity, and contributing to cultural survival.     

复杂性视角下乡村旅游地居民旅游满意度研究

社区对旅游的满意度评价是乡村旅游目的地可持续发展的重要观测维度。而对满意度影响的相关研究通常采用线性因果模型展开,对其复杂性关系研究不足。本文采用基于复杂性理论的模糊集定性比较分析方法(fsQCA),构建了以人口统计学、旅游共享感知、社区归属和居民生活质量为主要影响因素的居民旅游满意度复杂理论模型。选取成都市三道堰所辖惠里社区和青杠树村进行实证研究,获得了18条高旅游满意度和13条低旅游满意度因果组合路径,发现高水平和低水平旅游满意度的前因变量具有异质性和复杂性,其在不同的旅游满意度预测中可能产生正向、负向影响或不出现,并且没有一个单一因素导致高或低水平居民旅游满意度,两种或两种以上的因素组合可以实现旅游满意度的高分或低分。     

Unravelling Church Land: Transformations in the Relations between Church,State and Community in Uganda

Christian churches control substantial areas of land in Africa. While intensifying struggles over their holdings are partly due to the increased pressure on land in general, they also reflect transformations in the relations through which churches’ claims to land are legitimized, the increased association of churches with business, and churches’ unique positioning as both institutions and communities. This article presents the trajectory of relations between church, state and community in Uganda from the missionary acquisition of land in the colonial era to the unravelling of church landholding under Museveni. Drawing on long‐term ethnographic fieldwork, the authors argue that claims to church land in contemporary Uganda draw on: 1) notions of belonging to the land; 2) views about the nature of churches as communities; 3) discontent regarding whether customary land owners gave churches user rights or ownership; and 4) assessment of the churches’ success in ensuring that the land works for the common good. The article develops a novel approach to analysing the changing meaning of the landholdings of religious institutions, thus extending ongoing discussions about land, politics, development and religion in Africa.     

Entangled allegiances: Ottoman Greeks in Marseille and the shifting ethos of Greekness (c. 1790–c. 1820)

Abstract

An attempt is made here to consider ‘the Greek experience of Ottoman rule’ beyond the frontiers of the Empire itself, by focusing on the resilience of the Ottoman aspect of collective identity among the Greeks in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Marseille. Beyond the classic questioning of political, social and cultural categories and labels, this article makes a plea for taking this resilience seriously, as part and parcel of a broader process of identity formation in a diaspora context. Making the case for a richer and more complex analysis of the phenomenon of ‘entangled identities’ among the Greeks in Marseille, some suggestions are made for what this claim might bring to the analysis of identity formation in the context of diaspora communities.     

基于社区能力的旅游小企业成长机制研究——以宏村为例

社区能力强调发展的内源性,旅游小企业嵌入在旅游地中,具有明显的内源性成长特征。本文以宏村旅游小企业为研究对象,采用扎根理论进行编码分析。研究发现：民居房屋、传统技能和地方文化等社区原始资源是旅游小企业成长的基础;同行引导、邻里支持和知识获取等社区主动参与方式促进小企业加速成长;企业主开展的企业合作和景区宣传等社区集体行动助推企业持续成长;企业家精神作为社区发展动力存在于企业成长的全过程,引导着社区资源、社区参与和集体行动等各环节作用的发挥。研究进一步发现,旅游小企业成长和社区能力建设具有循环促进作用,这种促进作用有利于社区能力的培育和旅游小企业在目的地的集聚成长。     

中国社区旅游模式探讨——以徽州古村落社区旅游为例

综合国内外社区旅游研究文献,认为社区旅游不能进行界定,而只宜于进行描述。本文在此基础上提出了社区旅游描述性工具--社区旅游连续统。并结合徽州古村落各自的特点,对古村落社区旅游及相关策略进行探讨,认为古村落社区的弱势地位导致了社区旅游的非持续性态势,因而古村落社区应充分利用旅游发展促进社区发展的基础上,以"第三条道路"理念为指导,贯彻权利义务对等的原则,对所有社区旅游的利益相关者的要求进行折衷与选择,并结合各村落的旅游发展阶段,确定社区参与的层次和内容。