This is God’s land: Moral economies, spirituality, and insurgent land seizures in Zimbabwe’s urban peripheries
Abstract In the contested urban peripheries of African cities, land is not merely a resource to be owned, it is a moral claim, a spiritual inheritance, and a battleground for survival. As urban expansion collides with histories of displacement and exclusion, marginalized migrants forge insurgent pat...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Discover Global Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s44282-025-00187-4 |
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| Summary: | Abstract In the contested urban peripheries of African cities, land is not merely a resource to be owned, it is a moral claim, a spiritual inheritance, and a battleground for survival. As urban expansion collides with histories of displacement and exclusion, marginalized migrants forge insurgent pathways to belonging that defy formal legal frameworks. In some cases, this is because urban and peri-urban farming have become essential survival strategies in Africa’s rapidly expanding cities. However, access to land for urban and peri-urban farming remains a significant hurdle, especially, for marginalized migrants. This paper explores how Malawian migrants at Lydiate informal settlement in peri-urban Zimbabwe mobilize insurgent practices—land seizures, spiritual claims, and communal strategies to access land for farming. Anchored in the insurgent citizenship framework, the study draws on eighteen months of intensive ethnographic fieldwork (2018–2020), including in-depth interviews with 50 migrants across generational cohorts, key informant interviews with local leaders, and extensive participant observation of everyday land negotiations and spiritual performances. The findings reveal that marginalized migrants construct alternative land governance systems based on informal seizures, communal endorsement, and moral-spiritual claims to space. Notably, migrants invoke divine ownership narratives "this is God’s land", deploy Nyau cult practices, and use witchcraft deterrence as tactical tools for defending seized land. These practices extend insurgent citizenship beyond political-legal rights to encompass moral, communal, and mystical terrains of urban belonging. Policy recommendations advocate for the recognition of informal access systems, the integration of adverse possession frameworks, and participatory planning models sensitive to spirituality and migrant livelihoods. Foregrounding the material, moral, and mystical dimensions of urban struggle, the study calls for a decolonized, pluralistic understanding of African urbanization, one attentive to the layered, lived realities shaping land, citizenship, and survival at the city’s contested edge. |
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| ISSN: | 2731-9687 |