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Meret Shehena, ‘Brothers' Land’ S. F. Nadel's Land Tenure on the Eritrean Plateau Revisited

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Kjetil Tronvoll
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Abstract

This article revisits S.F. Nadel's study on land tenure in highland Eritrea from the mid‐1940s, and presents the current framework of the communal land tenure system of meret shehena. Under the meret shehena system, all land under the domain of the village is perceived as the common property of the village inhabitants. To restrict outsiders access to land, habitation rights (tisha) to the villages is guided by agnatic descent, and individuals obtain usufruct rights to land through residence in the village. The article proves that since Nadel's study almost sixty years ago, descent rules defining habitation rights have been changed, in order to restrict distant descendants returning to the village and claiming their land rights. Nevertheless, the overall workings of the system that redistributes all shehena land every seventh year to the village inhabitants, shows a remarkable resemblance to the observations made by Nadel. It appears that the customary operational guidelines of the system are virtually unaffected by wars and political turbulence during the last fifty years, following the core principle that each male adult individual with habitation rights (tisha) who marries and establishes a separate household, will be entitled to an equal share (gibri) of the village land, in order to secure the livelihood of all household members.

Résumé

Cet article revient sur l'étude menée par S. F. Nadel dans les années 40 sur le régime foncier dans les régions montagneuses d'Erythrée et décrit brièvement le cadre actuel du régime foncier communal meret shehena. Au titre de ce régime, toutes les terres situées sur le domaine du village sont considérées comme des biens communs. Pour limiter l'accès des personnes extérieures, le droit d'y vivre (tisha) est déterminé par filiation agnatique et les personnes jouissent d'un droit d'usufruit en vertu de leur résidence. Cet article montre que depuis le temps de Nadel, les règles de filiation qui défmissent les droits d'habitation ont changé afin de dissuader les parents éloignés de revenir pour revendiquer leurs droits fonciers. Néanmoins, le fonctionnement global du système qui consiste à redistribuer toutes les terres shehena tous les sept ans est remarquablement similaire aux observations de Nadel. Les règles coutumières semblent ne pas avoir été affectées, ou peu, par les guerres et l'agitation politique des cinquante dernières années et continuent de suivre le principe fondamental selon lequel tout homme adulte jouissant de droits d'habitation (tisha) qui se marie et forme son propre foyer peut prétendre à une part égale (gibri) des terres du village afin d'assurer sa subsistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 70 , Issue 4 , November 2000 , pp. 595 - 613
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press 2000

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