Changes in land transfer mechanisms : evidence from West Africa
La dynamique des dispositifs de transferts de droits fonciers : perspectives ouest-africaines
Résumé
This chapter studies changes in institutional arrangements for the transfer of land rights, both between groups and between individuals, in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali. Mechanisms for the transfer of land rights range from short-term to permanent transfers, from partial to complete transfers, and from nonmonetarised arrangements embedded in social relations to market transactions. The chapter documents both changes in “customary”, non-monetarised arrangements (namely the tutorat” relationship); and the emergence of monetarised transactions, particularly land sales. While, conceptually, clear differences exist between “tutorat” arrangements (in which land transfers are embedded within a broader socio-political relationship and entail a continuing duty of gratitude and of allegiance toward the customary land holders) and sales (which are monetarised deals that do not entail a continuing relationship once the transaction is completed), in practice boundaries may be blurred, as tutorat arrangements are becoming monetarised and market transactions are nonetheless embedded in social relations.