Paper short abstract:

Following the land registration in 2010,Rwandan peasants have to follow state agricultural policies that deprive peasants of control over their farming routines.Loss of control has emotional costs.This paper discusses how Rwandan peasants elaborate strategies to still feel in control over their land

Paper long abstract:

'Attachment to land' is both a legal and an emotional category. In 2010, the Rwandan government undertook the registration of all arable land, and landholders now hold title on their plots for 99 years. Even though Rwandan peasants see an advantage of holding land title, they also struggle with the obligations that come with such a title, and claim that they now have obtained more limited control over their daily farming routines. Land holders must now follow the national agricultural modernization agenda, with mono-cropping of government approved crops, and risk seeing their land given to someone else if they protest or deviate from government demands. However, peasants have developed various practice to evade or resist this new system. Standard interpretations of Hirschman's exit (outmigration), voice (overt resistance) or loyalty as ways to relate to policy are not adequate to describe Rwandan peasants' reactions to the land registration. Instead, my research suggests that there are social and even personal strategies at work to relate to a new reality, operating at the emotional levels of guilt and shame. This paper will discuss how Rwandan peasants react to the land registration and agricultural modernization policies, and how they enact strategies to feel in charge of their plots and source of livelihood, in spite of the authorities tight control over land. Studies of peasant agricultural policies need to take into account not only the political and legal framework, but also the emotional aspects of land ownership/attachment.