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<p>“What happens to land when the law disappears?” In Lydiate, a rough peri-urban settlement in Zimbabwe, land does not simply pass from father to son; it circulates through hands, hearts, and histories far removed from legal documents. Who inherits land in Lydiate, is not determined by law or blood; but by who stayed, who cared, and who buried the dead. This paper explores how Malawian descendants in the rough peri-urban settlement of Lydiate, Zimbabwe, navigate land inheritance in the absence of formal tenure systems, legal recognition, or state support. In a context marked by statelessness, legal ambiguity, and postcolonial land inequities, migrants have developed what this study terms <i>agile inheritance</i>—a socially embedded, flexible, and relational mode of land succession that operates outside statutory or customary frameworks. Drawing on two-year ethnographic fieldwork, the paper reveals how land is transferred through kinship negotiation, community witnessing, and symbolic acts such as burial, caregiving, and naming, rather than through legal deeds or formal titling. These practices form a system of <i>vernacular governance</i>, grounded in moral legitimacy and local authority rather than state recognition. The paper theorizes <i>agile inheritance</i> as a hybrid institutional bricolage that reworks patriarchal, matrilineal, and affective logics to meet the needs of socially excluded populations. It extends debates on urban informality, citizenship, and governance by demonstrating how inheritance becomes a vehicle for asserting belonging, stabilizing claims, and reproducing place-making among stateless and legally invisible actors. While socially legitimate, these practices remain structurally vulnerable within Zimbabwe’s exclusionary land regime and broader post-FTLRP political economy. The study calls for policy frameworks that move beyond technocratic formalization to recognize, engage, and support community-based systems of tenure security. Overall, this study contributes new insights into how marginal urban communities govern land, sustain intergenerational continuity, and exercise political agency on the fringes of legal citizenship. These insights contribute to understanding the informal dynamics of land governance in African cities and hold relevance for sustainable development policy, particularly in achieving SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).</p>

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Agile inheritance and vernacular governance – land, legitimacy, and migrant agency in peri-urban Zimbabwe

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年7月1日

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  • Johannes Bhanye

摘要

“What happens to land when the law disappears?” In Lydiate, a rough peri-urban settlement in Zimbabwe, land does not simply pass from father to son; it circulates through hands, hearts, and histories far removed from legal documents. Who inherits land in Lydiate, is not determined by law or blood; but by who stayed, who cared, and who buried the dead. This paper explores how Malawian descendants in the rough peri-urban settlement of Lydiate, Zimbabwe, navigate land inheritance in the absence of formal tenure systems, legal recognition, or state support. In a context marked by statelessness, legal ambiguity, and postcolonial land inequities, migrants have developed what this study terms agile inheritance—a socially embedded, flexible, and relational mode of land succession that operates outside statutory or customary frameworks. Drawing on two-year ethnographic fieldwork, the paper reveals how land is transferred through kinship negotiation, community witnessing, and symbolic acts such as burial, caregiving, and naming, rather than through legal deeds or formal titling. These practices form a system of vernacular governance, grounded in moral legitimacy and local authority rather than state recognition. The paper theorizes agile inheritance as a hybrid institutional bricolage that reworks patriarchal, matrilineal, and affective logics to meet the needs of socially excluded populations. It extends debates on urban informality, citizenship, and governance by demonstrating how inheritance becomes a vehicle for asserting belonging, stabilizing claims, and reproducing place-making among stateless and legally invisible actors. While socially legitimate, these practices remain structurally vulnerable within Zimbabwe’s exclusionary land regime and broader post-FTLRP political economy. The study calls for policy frameworks that move beyond technocratic formalization to recognize, engage, and support community-based systems of tenure security. Overall, this study contributes new insights into how marginal urban communities govern land, sustain intergenerational continuity, and exercise political agency on the fringes of legal citizenship. These insights contribute to understanding the informal dynamics of land governance in African cities and hold relevance for sustainable development policy, particularly in achieving SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).