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Debating the African Land Question with Archie Mafeje

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  • Sam Moyo

Abstract

This article provides a synthesis of Archie Mafeje’s views on the land and agrarian question in Africa, including land tenure and agrarian labour relations, technological change and agricultural productivity, agrarian class formation processes, and the politics of agrarian reform. 1 His enduring argument was that the fundamental land and labour relations of Africa’s pre-capitalist modes of economic and political organization had persisted during and after colonialism and capitalist penetration in the former non-settler territories of Africa. And he also rejected the dominant view that agrarian transformation in Africa was constrained by alleged deficiencies in African land tenure systems. Mafeje’s views had a unique impact on the debates on the land and agrarian questions, in both settler and non-settler Africa, as well as on my own intellectual development.

Suggested Citation

  • Sam Moyo, 2018. "Debating the African Land Question with Archie Mafeje," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 7(2), pages 211-233, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:agspub:v:7:y:2018:i:2:p:211-233
    DOI: 10.1177/2277976018775361
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sam Moyo, 2011. "Land concentration and accumulation after redistributive reform in post-settler Zimbabwe," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(128), pages 257-276, June.
    2. Migot-Adholla, Shem, et al, 1991. "Indigenous Land Rights Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Constraint on Productivity?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 5(1), pages 155-175, January.
    3. Jean‐Philippe Platteau, 1996. "The Evolutionary Theory of Land Rights as Applied to Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Critical Assessment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 27(1), pages 29-86, January.
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