Land Alienation, Proletarianization, and Changing Labor Market Regimes in Southern Africa

Abstract

Abstract The nature and extent of the rural proletarianization of the peasantry in (Southern) Africa arising from uneven colonial land alienation and structural adjustment programs instigated economic crises, and whether farm and nonfarm activities constitute a continuum in the labor process of the peasantry remains an unresolved question. The labor relations are to a large extent shaped by the degree of access to land, and are thus modified by processes of land alienation or the extension of access through land redistribution. Drawing from secondary literature and primary data marshaled on the recent land reform experiences in Zimbabwe, the chapter demonstrates that peasant forms of production prevail despite the challenges rooted in neoliberal reforms. Taking this stand, the chapter challenges the dominant perspectives that generally perceive a post-peasant society evolving from colonial and postcolonial land alienation and adverse agrarian conditions. Today, as urban-based social reproduction strategies continue to falter, repeasantization and semi-proletarianization, which maintain the significance of land, represent the overarching tendencies in rural areas.