Table Of ContentTRANSFORMATIONS
ON THE GROUND
FRAMING THE GLOBAL BOOK SERIES
The Framing the Global project, an initiative of Indiana University Press
and the Indiana University Center for the Study of Global Change,
is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Hilary E. Kahn and Deborah Piston-Hatlen, series editors
Advisory Committee
Alfred C. Aman Jr.
Eduardo Brondizio
Maria Bucur
Bruce L. Jaffee
Patrick O’Meara
Radhika Parameswaran
Richard R. Wilk
TR ANSFORMATIONS
ON THE GROUND
FRAMING THE GLOBAL BOOK SERIES
The Framing the Global project, an initiative of Indiana University Press Space and the Power of Land
and the Indiana University Center for the Study of Global Change,
is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. in Botswana
Hilary E. Kahn and Deborah Piston-Hatlen, series editors
Advisory Committee
Alfred C. Aman Jr.
Eduardo Brondizio
Maria Bucur
Bruce L. Jaffee
Patrick O’Meara
Radhika Parameswaran
Anne M. O. Griffiths
Richard R. Wilk
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
© 2019 by Anne M. O. Griffiths
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Griffiths, Anne M. O., author.
Title: Transformations on the ground : space and the power of land in
Botswana / Anne M. O. Griffiths.
Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, 2019. | Series: Framing
the global book series | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019013601 (print) | LCCN 2019017133 (ebook) | ISBN
9780253043580 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253043566 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780253043573 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Land use—Government policy—Botswana. | Land tenure—Law and
legislation—Botswana. | Globalization—Economic aspects—Botswana.
Classification: LCC HD996.Z63 (ebook) | LCC HD996.Z63 .G75 2019 (print) | DDC
333.3096883—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019013601
ISBN 978-0-253-04356-6 (hdbk.)
ISBN 978-0-253-04357-3 (pbk.)
ISBN 978-0-253-04358-0 (web PDF)
1 2 3 4 5 24 23 22 21 20 19
For Ed
CONTENTS
Preface ix
Introduction 1
Part I Historical Dimensions of Land in Botswana:
Contemporary Entanglements
1 The International Landscape and Its Influence on Land in
Botswana 19
2 Reframing the Governance of Land: Global, National, and
Local Intersections 39
3 Institutional Frameworks and Governance: Kweneng Land
Board and the Administration of Land 57
Part II The Bottom-Up Impact of Land on Diverging
Family Lifeworlds and Gender Relations
4 Families, Networks, and Status: Grounded Perspectives on
Access to and Control over Land 79
5 Transformations on the Ground: The Changing Position of
Women in Relation to Land 96
Part III Law and Space: Negotiating Legal Plurality in Botswana
6 Negotiating Conflict: The Handling of Disputes in the Land
Tribunal 119
viii | Contents
7 Constructing Legality in the High Court and the Court of
Appeal 137
Final Reflections: The Myth of a Single Global Vision 157
Appendix 167
References 171
Index 185
PREFACE
If irst came to Botswana in 1980 to help set up the Law Department
at what was then the University of Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland
(UBLS), now the University of Botswana. The Edinburgh University Law
Faculty was providing two years of legal training in Edinburgh to students
from these countries as part of a five-year program. As part of that effort,
I was brought on board to prepare course materials for teaching family law
by my colleague Sandy McCall Smith, who was heading the team to establish
the department. This assignment was my introduction to legal scholarship
in Botswana in which I have maintained an interest for over thirty years.
I remain indebted to the late S. G. Masimega who was my mentor, guide,
and interpreter during the earlier years of my research that culminated in
the publication of my book In the Shadow of Marriage: Gender and Justice
in an African Community, published in 1997. As we worked together over
the years, people in Molepolole village would comment, “There goes the old
man again with his shadow.”
I have carried out field research in the country at various periods of
time, intensively in the 1980s, with a gap into the 1990s. Building on this
earlier research, my study on which this book is based was carried out
mainly in 2009–2010, with shorter periods of further research in 2011, 2012,
2013, 2014, 2015, and more extensively in 2016.
My findings are thus the product of work from different periods in
time, and I have tried to flag these variations in the text as frequent changes
to legislation precluded updating all the elements of my research. So, for
example, a new Tribal Land Bill was introduced in 2017, but this book does
not deal with its provisions, except to indicate in places where changes are
proposed. The same is true for government ministries whose designations
changed in 2016. I refer to the ministries and departments as they were
when I carried out the bulk of my research in 2009–2010 and 2012. As a
result, what is presented is a patchwork of findings woven into a narrative
that has been put together over time and space.
One of my major goals has been to highlight the degree to which peo-
ple in Botswana actively participate in debates about land and land reform
ix
