Magister Philosophiae (Land and Agrarian Studies) - MPhil(LAS) / This thesis examines debates concerning large-scale land acquisitions in Kenya by looking at the case of the Dominion Farms Limited takeover of Yala Swamp. The case study illustrates actual practices of Kenya’s land governance system in terms of how large-scale land acquisitions take shape and their results on the ground. The study explores changes that have taken place at Yala Swamp from 2003 to 2013 and assesses them against the backdrop of recent and emerging land governance regulatory frameworks at national, regional and global levels. The study’s research methodology and data analysis reveal that the new large-scale land acquisition phenomenon has a historical dimension in that it perpetuates a continued legacy of land dispossession of local communities of the unregistered land thereby disrupting their livelihoods. This thesis contributes to a lively intellectual debate and literature on land governance by examining land issues from a governance and political economy perspective. Yala Swamp was chosen as a case study of large-scale land acquisition. The case shows how new land regulatory policies are being shaped and constrained by what is considered beneficial for foreign investment but not necessarily in tandem with local communities’ needs and expectations. This thesis is anchored on the assumption that land governance frameworks’ transformative potential depends on the extent to which they are able to address the structural factors that entrench continued poverty, food insecurity, gender inequality, environmental degradation and land conflicts. The thesis argues that initiatives that facilitate the corporate takeover of land and other resources from the poor in order to give to large-scale investors foreclose the smallholder agricultural space for future expansion. It further argues that an understanding of land reform processes from a governance and political economy perspective offers insight that could not only improve the design of land governance regulatory frameworks, but also provide pathways to support implementation.

While many studies have completed accuracy assessments on the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD), little research has utilized a detailed digitized land cover dataset, like that available for the Town of Blacksburg, for this comparison. This study aims to evaluate the information available from a detailed land cover dataset and compare it with the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) at a localized scale. More specifically, it utilizes the detailed land cover dataset for the Town of Blacksburg to analyze the land cover distribution for varying land uses including single-family residential, multi-family residential, and non-residential. In addition, an application scenario assigns an area-weighted curve number to watersheds based on each land cover dataset. This study exhibits the importance of obtaining detailed land cover datasets for cities and towns. Furthermore, it shows the comprehensive information and subsequent quantifications that can be surmised from a detailed land cover dataset. / Master of Science

My research provides a historical, geographical reading of land enclosure in the context of economic and agrarian crises in late imperial Russia. Using original records of Russian land deals that I obtained in the federal and provincial archives, I explore how the coalitions of landed nobility, land surveyors, landless serfs, and peasant proprietors used land enclosure as a conduit for coercive governance, accumulation of landed capital, or, in contrary, as a means of resistance. Through critical discourse analysis, I illustrate how the Russian imperial state and territories in the periphery were dialectically co-produced not only through institutional manipulations, resettlement plans, and husbandry manuals, but also through political and public discourses. I argue that land enclosure exploited practices of autonomous land management in the commune and furthered growing agrarian and economic crises in the countryside. The urban periphery became a strategic territory used for the accumulation of new wealth and displacement of two million peasant households, which accommodated capitalist development under the Russian Tsarist and, later, Soviet political regimes. Through this example, my research reexamines predominant assumptions about the land, territory, and crisis triad in Russia by positioning the rural politics of the late imperial period within the global context of land enclosure. At the same time, by focusing on the historical reading of territory from the Russian perspective, this study introduces a more nuanced alternative to the traditional colonial territory discourse often found in Western interpretations. / PHD / My research provides a historical, geographical analysis of land enclosure in the context of economic and agrarian crises in late imperial Russia. Using original records of Russian land deals that I obtained in the federal and municipal archives, I explore how the coalitions of landed nobility, land surveyors, landless serfs, and peasant proprietors used land enclosure as a conduit for coercive governance, accumulation of landed capital, or, in contrary, as a means of resistance. Through critical discourse analysis, I illustrate how the Russian imperial state and territories in the periphery were dialectically co-produced not only through institutional manipulations, resettlement plans, and husbandry manuals, but also through political and public discourses. I argue that land enclosure exploited practices of autonomous land management in the commune and furthered growing agrarian and economic crises in the countryside. The urban periphery became a strategic territory used for the accumulation of new wealth and displacement of two million peasant households, which accommodated capitalist development under the Russian Tsarist and, later, Soviet political regimes. Through this example, my research reexamines predominant assumptions about the land, territory, and crisis triad in Russia by positioning the rural politics of the late imperial period within the global context of land enclosure. At the same time, by focusing on the historical reading of territory from a Russian perspective, this study introduces a more nuanced alternative to the traditional territory discourse often found in Western interpretations.

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<p>The Government of Namibia has been responsible for facilitating the resettlement of destitute and landless people since its independence in 1990. The provision of resettlement is a very contentious issue in Namibia. The bulk of land is still in the hands of minority white communities and foreigners. It is against this background that the study examined the land reform process in Namibia. The objectives of the study was to investigate to what extent the land reform process has been successful in one of Namibia's regions, and what factors are relevant for success, and identify ways to improve the process / to examine the original government objective/policy and how/why it changed over time.</p>

When a new government is established, sovereign and national in its character, all of the land within its jurisdiction belongs to the people, not as individuals, but as a whole, except that which may have been theretofore acquired by individuals under such rights as may be respected by the new government. The land which has not been acquired by individuals is known as the public domain, and is subject to such disposition as the new government might determine. This thesis will review the public lands of Texas and how those lands have been used with a strong focus on the endowment of these lands to the public education system.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This research places in context a proposed case study of land and property rights of a dispossessed Stockenström (Eastern Cape) community forcibly removed to Friemersheim (Western Cape) during the apartheid era, between 1985 and 1986. This dispossessed community has yet to receive appropriate compensation for that expropriation in the form of restoration of their property rights. This study examines the specifics of the legislative framework, which underpinned the circumstances of their land expropriation, as well as the pattern of land dispossession in South Africa during this era. To this end, it examines the impact of land-related apartheid legislation, which directly and indirectly influenced this community. It focuses on discussions, many of the parliamentary proclamations and statutes such as those passed in 1913, and beyond, which provided the legal context for large-scale land grabs, and contrasts these with the post-1994 land reformation programme. Finally, this research examines the practical implementation of the 1994 land reform programme, especially the component of restitution, with particular reference to the displaced Stockenström community who find themselves facing huge challenges in a democratic South Africa, even after they applied the new rights accorded to them in the land reform programme. It outlines the significance of the new legislative rights conferred on those dispossessed and tracks their land claims successes and failures.