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FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 26
3:30
- 5:30pm, Room 1005
SESSION 1:
COLONIAL LEGACIES: CREATING PROPERTY IN THE
PERIPHERIES
Discussant: Laura Underkuffler, Arthur
Larson Professor of Law, Duke University
Dr.
David Gilmartin, Professor of History,
North Carolina State University and
Dr.
Jonathan Ocko, Professor of History and
Head of the History Department, North Carolina State
University and Adjunct Professor of Legal History,
Duke Law School
“State,
Sovereignty and the People: A Comparison of the ‘Rule
of Law’ in British India and Qing China”
This paper emphasizes that the rule of law, including
the operation of the “law of property,”
cannot be understood strictly in terms of its instrumental
effects, whether these relate to economic development,
to the efficient allocation of resources, or to justice
and equity. Rather, by looking at the concept of the
“rule of law” in comparative historical
perspective through a focus primarily on 19th century
Qing China and British India, we argue that rule of
law is a concept intimately related to the constitution
of sovereignty and ruling legitimacy. We contend that
in China and India property, contract, and rights
came to define the structural relations between society
and state in fundamentally different ways. In China,
property rights rooted in the logic of contracts may
well have been more deeply embedded in social relations
than in India. Yet such rights played a far smaller
role in the principles of moral exemplification that
bound society and state together than they did in
India. Looking at the history of property rights from
such a perspective is critical, we would suggest,
as a backdrop for thinking about how property operates
in these societies today.
Dr. Angus Wright, Professor Emeritus Environmental
Studies, California State University, Sacramento
"How
does property make it proper? Conflicting views of
society seen through property law in the Americas."
It has been proposed that property in American
history is best understand as the conflict between
seeing property as a "commodity" versus
seeing it as "propriety." For those who
see it as "propriety," rules about property
are seen as the foundation for a certain kind of society.
Using examples from the United States, Mexico, and
Brazil, the paper discusses what kind of "propriety",
or form of society, property law has been meant to
construct. The paper shows that those interested in
land reform have very different kinds of "propriety"
in mind, and that those who see land as "commodity"
are in fact, themselves also envisioning a certain
kind of "propriety" based on property rules.
5:30-6:30, 4th Floor
WELCOME RECEPTION
SATURDAY,
OCTOBER 27
9:00
- 9:30pm, Room 1005
BREAKFAST
9:30
- 12:00pm, Room 1005
SESSION 2:
MODELING NEW PROPERTY RIGHTS:
CREATING PRIVATE PROPERTY IN CHINA, HUNGARY, AND THE
PHILIPPINES
Discussant: Jedediah Purdy, Associate Professor
of Law, Duke University
Dr.
Chengri Ding, Associate Professor of Architecture,
Planning, and Preservation, University of Maryland
“Policy
and praxis of land acquisition in China”
Land acquisition is the primary means used by governments
to meet increasing land demand driven by rapid economic
and urban growth in China. Since development is prohibited
on non-state-owned land, land acquisition in which
landownership is converted from collective communes
to the state shall take place prior to any land construction.
This paper reviews institutional structure governing
land acquisition in pre- and post-reform eras and
examines consequences and impacts associated with
or derived from land acquisition. It is concluded
that land acquisition (1) has been used heavily by
local governments to fuel urban development and finance
infrastructure provision and (2) has resulted in increasing
social tension and injustice that may impose a long-term
threat to stability and sustainable development.
Mieke
Meurs, Professor of Economics and Ph.D.
Program Director
American University
“Back
to the Future? Changes in Bulgarian Land Holding and
Farming in the Post-Socialist Period.”
Prior to World War II and the subsequent socialist
period, the majority of Bulgarian agricultural producers
farmed very small, fragmented farms, with little mechanization
and low productivity, and predominantly produced for
their own consumption. In 2003, an even vaster majority
of agricultural producers farmed very small, fragmented
farms, with little mechanization, low productivity
and predominantly produced for their own consumption.
Has the Bulgarian countryside been returned to the
past? In this paper, I examine alternative explanations
for this outcome, and consider the implications of
this organization for the affected households and
for the future of Bulgarian agriculture.
Dr. Lakshmi Iyer,
Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Harvard
Business School
“Colonial
Rule, Property Rights and Economic Development in
the Philippines”
(joint work with Noel Maurer, HBS)
The United States implemented several land reforms
during its occupation of the Philippines. Using data
from the censuses of 1903 and 1918, we consider the
impact of two important changes: the redistribution
of the Friar Lands formerly belonging to the Catholic
Church, and the implementation of a formal land titling
program. We find that the land reforms had the unintended
consequence of increasing the incidence of squatting.
In addition, we also investigate the impact of these
reforms on the doubling of Philippine rice productivity
and the decision to switch to commercial crops between
1903 and 1918.
12:00-1:00, 4th floor
LUNCH
1:00-3:00,
room 1005
SESSION 3: RACE, VIOLENCE,
AND LAND LOSS
Annette
Hiatt, Policy Director North Carolina Association
of Black Lawyers' Land Loss Prevention Project
“The
Absence of Right: Land and the Ties to Social, Economic
and Environmental Rights.”
This paper examines the connections between ownership
of land and the ability, both perceived and actual,
to pursue beneficial and progressive change. The loss
of land amongst low income and minority landowners
in the United States has reached critical levels,
with one result being the decreased ability to participate
in processes leading to social, environmental and
economic progress. Several causes of land loss in
North Carolina, such as fractionated title to land
and environmental injustice are explored with a focus
on historical and current trends. Additionally, effective
strategies used by activists and community-based organizations
working toward change are highlighted.
Dr. Jan Hoffman French,
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of
Richmond
“Ethnoracial
Land Restitution: Finding Indians and Fugitive Slave
Descendants in the Brazilian Northeast”
In this paper, I consider a situation in which land
restitution claims have led to a refashioning of ethnoracial
identities. The form of land restitution under consideration
in this article involves the "return" of
land to people claiming that their ancestors lived
on the land prior to the current landowners who, it
is said, obtained legal title as the result of violent
seizure of the land and expulsion of its residents.
Once this was accomplished, those same residents were
re-incorporated into economic production of the land
on which their ancestors had lived, but now as landless
rural workers and sharecroppers. Opportunities for
a better life can come in many forms. In this case
such opportunities were presented in connection with
legal provisions granting land to those people, but
this time based on ethnoracial identities assumed
by the law to predate the law itself. I am interested
in exploring how such opportunities, once taken up
by rural people living in a particular place, such
as the Northeast backlands, can operate to transform
their ethnoracial identification, reconfigure their
local cultural practices, exacerbate pre-existing
tensions when new identities draw on historically
negative categories, and help us think about the possibility
of alternative modernities.
3:00-3:15,
room 1005
BREAK
3:15-4:00
room 1005
CLOSING ROUNDTABLE WITH
ALL PRESENTERS
CONFERENCE PRESENTERS:
Dr.
Chengri Ding, Associate Professor
Architecture, Planning, and Preservation
University of Maryland
Dr. Angus Wright,
Professor Emeritus
Environmental Studies
California State University, Sacramento
Dr.
Jan Hoffman French, Assistant Professor
Anthropology
University of Richmond
Annette
Hiatt, Policy Director
North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers' Land Loss
Prevention Project
Dr.
David Gilmartin, Professor of History
North Carolina State University
Dr.
Jonathan Ocko, Professor of History and
Head of the History Department
North Carolina State University and Adjunct Professor
of Legal History, Duke Law School
Dr.
Lakshmi Iyer, Assistant Professor of Business
Administration
Harvard Business School
Mieke
Meurs, Professor of Economics and Ph.D.
Program Director
American University
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