Matrilineal Land, Patriarchal Laws: Critiquing Land Tenure Formalisation in Malawi through a Feminist Economic Sociology of Law

Eighty-seven per cent of the land in Malawi is held as customary land under customary systems. The legitimacy of land ownership under customary law is based on widely accepted traditions that connect a 'particular lineage' to the land it occupies. Lineage-based inheritance is at the core of Malawi's customary land tenure systems and is the most prevalent form of land acquisition. Malawi's Customary Land Act (2016) aims to formalise customary landholding to improve women's access to land, promote development and strengthen economic life through mirroring arguments proffered by development practitioners and organisations. However, it is a 'one size fits all' approach to land reform projects that neglects lineage-based inheritance and does not consider Malawi's culture-specific context. In exploring Malawi's route towards land law reform, the thesis uncovers that increasing/improving women's access to land was an afterthought to otherwise economic developmental aims. Therefore, the Customary Land Act (2016) creates a framework that promotes land formalisation by ignoring the nuances of lineage-based landholding, especially women's prevalence of land ownership, access and control. The thesis critiques formalisation arguments through a 'Networks of Community' lens, highlighting the symbiotic embeddedness of society and economy to demonstrate how the new legal framework undermines existing social structures and threatens the resilience of matrilineal land tenure systems. This analysis is strengthened by on-site research that examines lived realities through a feminist and social reproduction critique to inform a Feminist Economic Sociology of Law. Fieldwork conducted in both matrilineal and patrilineal communities shows that while formalisation has increased tenure security, it has also opened these communities up to land expropriation by the state and state-sanctioned actors, as well as compromised lineage-based land inheritance in matrilineal societies. While formalisation has broadly conformed to customary norms, equalising land inheritance amongst genders in a society that otherwise favours male dominance is likely to disinherit women. In failing to address matrilineal communities' complex realities, the Customary Land Act (2016) might instead perpetuate patriarchal norms and compromise the social safety nets that customary landholding provides in matrilineal societies.