A DIALECTICAL ANALYSIS OF LAND TENURE EVOLUTION AND CLASS CONSTRUCTION IN BUGANDA, 1900–1948: THE FEUDALISATION OF THE BUGANDA STATE
Abstract
Purpose of the Study: This study examined the evolution of land tenure and class construction in Buganda between 1900 and 1948, with emphasis on how colonial land policy transformed political authority, property relations, and agrarian class structure.
Statement of the Problem: The 1900 Buganda Agreement and subsequent land measures converted customary and politically mediated landholding into registered mailo ownership, yet the class consequences of this transformation require closer historical interpretation, especially the emergence of a landed chiefly class and a tenant peasantry.
Methodology: The paper employed a qualitative historical-dialectical analysis of published historical accounts and legal-institutional developments concerning the 1900 Buganda Agreement, mailo tenure, land registration, landlord-tenant relations, and the Busuulu and Envujjo reforms.
Results of the Study: The analysis shows that colonial rule converted chiefly control of land into more durable private ownership, weakened the Kabaka’s former role as ultimate land trustee, expanded a landed aristocracy, and recast bibanja holders as tenants and commodity-producing peasants. The resulting landlord-tenant tensions contributed to rent disputes, peasant mobilisation, and statutory intervention through the Busuulu and Envujjo framework.
Conclusion and Policy Recommendation: The paper concludes that colonial land reform generated durable class differentiation and a semi-feudal agrarian order in Buganda. Contemporary land governance and scholarship should recognise these historical roots when addressing mailo ownership, occupancy rights, landlord-tenant relations, and the long-term social effects of colonial land allocation.
Keywords: Dialectical Analysis, Land Tenure, Evolution, Class Construction, Buganda, 1900–1948
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