Gendered access to customary land in East Timor |
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| Authors: | Pyone Myat Thu Steffanie Scott Kimberly P Van Niel |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Human Geography, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Building No. 9, Acton, 0200, ACT, Australia;(2) Department of Geography, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, Canada, N2L3G1;(3) School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, 6009, Australia |
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| Abstract: | Land tenure rights reflect the deeper structures of society, particularly gender distinctions in relation to land. Considering
the structural differences between patrilineal and matrilineal customary tenure systems in East Timor are understudied, this
paper explores men and women’s experiences in accessing land under such arrangements. The comparative analysis of two patrilineal
with one matrilineal land tenure systems in Ainaro and Manufahi districts suggests a significant degree of flexibility within
both systems with respect to the norms of gendered inheritance. Therefore, the binary constructs of ‘patrilineal’ and ‘matrilineal’
societies are limiting. Both men and women in these communities may acquire land rights under different circumstances, mainly
through negotiations with their parents or hamlet chief. Daughters in the patrilineal communities could inherit family land
upon their parents’ death and sons in the matrilineal community could gain land by cultivating and maintaining unclaimed customary
land. Empirical evidence show that inheritance principally determines usufruct rights to land, but marriage exchange practices
complicates a deeper understanding of traditional East Timorese land rights.
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| Keywords: | East Timor Land tenure Gender Patrilineal Matrilineal |
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