Land Tenure Center Newsletter
Number 76, Spring 1998, p. 7-9
"Votes count, but resources decide." This wisdom, from Norwegian political scientist Stein Rokkan, drives LTC's new North American Program (NAP) toward its goal of strengthening equality of access to land and other natural resources—especially among people with limited economic and political power.
NAP made considerable progress assisting community-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) concerned with problems of land tenure.
NAP cosponsored the Black Land Loss Conference,
held in Tillery, North Carolina, in March 1997, and provided travel help for low-income black-farmer participants. Jess Gilbert, the NAP representative at
the conference, made contacts with community and grassroots groups and identified researchers interested in the phenomenon of land loss afflicting black citizens. These individuals may be future collaborators in investigating this aspect of the political economy of land tenure.
NAP supported the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) in Berea, Kentucky, with its development and assessment of using geographic information system (GIS) technology to enhance citizen participation in community economic development and land use planning in Letcher County. A preliminary report of their experiences with the new methodology will be featured at the Who Owns America? II (WOA?II) Conference, 3-6 June 1998, in Madison, Wisconsin. (See article, p. 1.)
NAP arranged for UW Law School students to fulfill their "externship" requirements by working with NGOs servicing the legal needs of minority persons regarding land loss and recovery. One law student worked this summer for the offices of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives (Epes, Alabama). NAP will continue the program in 1998, expanding it to include NGOs in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and in Indian Country. As an extension of this experience, NAP plans a training program for paralegal professionals with special expertise in land tenure legal issues. This also will involve collaboration with the UW Law School and/or other law schools in states where the paralegals would practice.
NAP supported the Troy Drive Community Garden Coalition, in Madison, Wisconsin, in its effort to convert state-owned "surplus land" into affordable housing and greenspace. The vision entails a "sustainable urban village" organized and managed through neighborhood democracy. The project will document the development processes and prepare teaching materials (video and print) for other urban gardening groups. These materials will be available at WOA?II.
NAP also funded a two-day Native American Land Tenure Workshop, cosponsored by the College of the Menominee Nation, held in Keshena, Wisconsin, 21-22 April 1997. LTC's John Bruce led the effort and was assisted by Thomas Mitchell (UW Law School Fellow), who is interested in developing comparative studies of South African Homelands and Native American Reservations. Nearly 30 delegates from tribes across the north-central region of the United States attended the workshop; they agreed on several topics for future collaborative research and educational activities.
The Native American Land Tenure Workshop resulted in contract negotiations with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to initiate research that will examine several problems associated with "fractionated heir property in Indian Country." The issue is also being discussed with the Indian Land Working Group (a national organization of Native Americans based in Plummer, Idaho) and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives.
NAP is building supportive partnerships with researchers, educators, and activists beyond the UW-Madison campus.
In partnership with Tuskegee University in Alabama, NAP secured a "center planning grant" from the Fund for Rural America (USDA). The center, which will be proposed to USDA in February 1998, will be located on and administered by the Tuskegee University campus; it will have an NAP faculty member serving as codirector. If funded, the center would represent a new federal investment in support of rural minorities concerned with land tenure.
NAP also collaborates with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (Cambridge, Massachusetts), expecting to engage in jointly sponsored activities during the next year. The Lincoln Institute is a cosponsor of the WOA?II Conference.
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Professor Harvey Jacobs (UW Urban and Regional Planning and Institute for Environmental Studies) coordinates NAP activities in the area of social and cultural conflicts. His book, Who Owns America? Social Conflict Over Property Rights, to be published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 1998, contains many articles that were first presented at the Who Owns America? Conference in 1995. His annotated bibliography of published literature on the "Wise Use Movement" will be issued as an LTC document in 1998.
Jacobs was Principal Investigator (PI) for a collaborative research project to assess the impact of state legislation promoted by the Wise Use Movement. He assembled co-researchers, including NGO representatives, public servants, and faculty members, to analyze resulting impacts in each state where such wise-use legislation was enacted. The study completed by these collaborators is attracting national attention, though no publications are available yet. Jacobs's testimony for the US House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Committee on the Judiciary, is available on the NAP website.
Jacobs also served as PI for an NAP study of how the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 has altered the shape of indigenous land tenure. Residents in two Alaska Native villages are major collaborators in this study, which uses participatory research methods. Through this project, NAP will establish a presence and credibility among Canadians with similar interests. Results from the study will be available midway through the coming year.
NAP agreed with Equity Trust to cosponsor an edited volume on alternative land ownership schemes. The collection of articles is, in part, from the conference Equity Trust held last year at the Harvard Law School. Some of the contributors will speak at the WOA?II Conference.
Literature reviews on Farm Security Administration Resettlement Communities and International Resettlement Schemes were completed by LTC students. The searches and draft papers have been useful in guiding NAP planning in the area of political economy and may lend themselves to publication with additional work. The FSA Net, an Internet linkage of colleagues (academic, NGOs, and activists) with an active interest in the Farm Security Administration Community Resettlement Program of the "New Deal Era," has also been developed.
All of these activities combined with many more in the planning stage mean that the future holds promising opportunities for the North American Program. We are grateful for the people and the support that have made the program possible: Otto Bremer Foundation, Ford Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, along with program managers, staff, students, and collaborators throughout North America.
Copyright © 1998 by Land Tenure Center and Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin. All rights reserved.
Readers may make verbatim copies of this document for noncommercial purposes by any means, provided that this copyright notice appears on all such copies.
More information about LTC's North American Program
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