Whether I follow African media (TV or social media as above) or Australian media, periodically this topic of 'land' comes up, particularly in relation to cultural land rights. It is a huge issue in South Africa, has been in Zimbabwe, and continues to be in Australia due to ramifications of colonisation.
But here in Botswana there is a rare added opportunity to take a look at the issue from outside of the 'colonisation' context, since Botswana was never colonised.
Yet here in the above Government facebook post, the issue of land has still arisen.
You see Botswana does not have an issue of the local tribes trying to 'get back' the land they 'lost' in colonisation, it is having a problem of locals who are granted village land and 'lose' it because they then go and sell it.
To clarify I should explain the context: You see, here any citizen can apply to the national Land Board (who took the job over from the Village Chiefs a few years back) to be given a plot (actually more than one plot as a person as I understand it, is eligible to be granted a residential plot as well as at least an additional farming plot). There are certain requirements that must be filled over the years to prove you value the plot and really need it and are using it, and if you don't the Government might take it back from you. The system is thus supposed to enable every person to have the opportunity to have their own home (roof over they head) and food to eat (from their own farm), and thus not be 'homeless'. However there has been a practice emerging, and growing, of people applying for a plot (which can actually take years on a waiting list to obtain), being granted a plot, and then selling the plot and expecting to then apply for another plot. The Government is trying to crack down on this, and only issue one of each type of plot to a person in their lifetime.
However, it seems the problem is persisting of people selling their plots.
The Appeals to Honour/Dignity to Motivate or Curtail Behaviour
So what I found interesting in this issue is the psychological reasoning and argument the Government used to try to encourage people to not sell their plots in the first place.
As a Westerner I could imagine that if such a kind of need of persuasion existed in Australia, the Government would be more likely to emphasise that owning your own piece of land gives you financial security and or is an investment for the future for yourself and your family, or is a kind of insurance against future homelessness or poverty. I cannot imagine them using the argument that owning land gives dignity…inferring that to sell land is reducing your dignity.
This is yet another one of those 'alerts' to differences which then alert us to the greater emphasis on honour-shame and the ways in which it has an impact on life in the surrounding culture…and thus where a rightly placed view may need to correct a mis-placed view, as part of a biblical discipleship ministry or interaction.
As this honour-dignity issue is evidently strongly emerging in matters related to land, it gives an insight into learning to understand some of what lies behind the land 'issues' for other parts of Africa within strongly honour-shame oriented cultures - as well as for indigenous Australians.
In fact I would suggest there might actually be three 'honour' issues that surround land issues.
- The first is honour of ancestors
- The second is honour of wealth
- The third is the honour or dignity of 'place'
1. Honour of ancestors is strong in the cultures of both Africans and indigenous Australians. And ancestors are believed to inhabit a 'place', an area, a region and thus watch over their people of that area - or as the Indigenous Australians would say 'country'. Part of ancestor veneration/honour includes proper burial and protection of such burial grounds in the tribal 'area'. So the tribe's identity and 'personhood' is religiously rooted in remaining in and caring for the land which the ancestors left them, and in which the ancestors are buried, and over which the ancestors preside. To lose such land is to dishonour the ancestors, abandon their identity, and thus aboandon their belief of what it means to have true personhood. This is not a matter (as the Westerner might think) of not being a big deal to move from one location to another as the need arises and forget about the previous place.
2. Every human being has a desire for wealth - in our sinful greed and pride that sees our own importance and being 'greater' than the next guy, we all want to amass wealth and possessions for ourselves to one degree or another, rather than acknowledging our equality before our creator and that all we have is a privilege and gift from his gracious hand. Regardless of the colour of skin or culture we are all the same. So even in community based societies, those of higher 'ranking' in the social structure will have some greater land ownership or oversight, and overall the amount of land the tribe claims as their own puts them as higher or lower in 'ranking' or honour to those around them. Of course greater land may mean greater power as well, but fundamentally it is greater honour.
But it is also this desire for 'wealth' that prompts the modern person in Botswana to want to sell their plots. Now with Westernisation, honour through wealth is not only by cows and land, but can come though owning flash cars or smart phones or a smaller house in the city rather than a large plot of land in their outlying home village which the friends of the now city-dweller do not see and thus the city-dweller has no prestige (honour) in the eyes of his city friends. So selling the plot can seem a way to gain some cash by which to buy something that will give him greater dignity in his current 'court of opinion'.
3. Then the third area is that of a sense of identity (which is a form of personal honour) that comes with belonging to a 'place' and feeling like one has somewhere to call 'home' - somewhere to be rooted. An even greater sense of identity comes from knowing that your ancestors lived and raised their families in that place for generations. As human beings whether we like it or not we know we are not an island, but we are biologically and emotionally/relationally part of prior generations and will be part of future ones. Who we are is always in a context of the families we are part of and their history, and that includes the place/s they dwelt. For cultures and family groups/clans who have lived on the same land ('country') for many, many centuries and generations, those roots can go very, very deep.
Understanding these issues is vital not only for understanding the culture and where it is coming from so as to reduce conflict and tension, but also for understanding how to present the gospel and disciple believers in such contexts so as to help them move from their identity and honour being rooted in false beliefs and temporary earthly contexts, to finding their honour and identity in belonging to God's family through Christ who is greater than any ancestor, and the eternal 'place' in which we have our security, wealth (lay up treasures in heaven) and place of belonging for eternity.
Caveat
I should clarify that not all African tribes have always lived in the same location their whole existence. In 'recent' history and remembrance it may seem they at least have been there a while or at least longer than the colonisers, but African tribes have moved over the centuries - through migration due to need for food etc, but also to flee enemies, or from family groups being cut off from a tribe and having to find a new 'place', or a family group refusing to submit to tribal leadership and deciding to set up their own place, or a tribe's desire to conquer more land and in so doing move, spread and take over new lands. Even just within Botswana these scenarios play out - even the village we live in was set up because a family grouping decided to 'leave' their tribal area after a disagreement and start in a new location. Over the generations, historical background can be lost or forgotten or selectively told so that current generations just think 'its always been this way'.
Caveat for Westerners...
Before I go on, don't assume these are issues only related to these cultures. The Westerner is not totally immune, even though it might be a generally lesser issue due to our own cultural and residential mobility. We may still find it hard to leave a house with long family ties - I just heard yesterday of a lady in the UK who had lived in the same house from birth and she was now married and and maybe in her 50s, and was finding it very hard to think about moving as all her memories and context of family was attached to that one place. And in the past it has been possible for people in the UK to bury family in their backyards - so imagine how distraught she would be if she had buried her parents in the backyard, and she wanted to leave the house to her daughter as an inheritance and keep the family link in that place…but then the government came and said they wanted the land for a highway to go through! Not only would she feel like she was losing a link to what has significantly contributed her the person she is (her identity) but she could very easily feel that she is 'dishonouring' her parents by letting their graves be forgotten and driven over by thousands of strangers every day and letting all they had worked for in building the house just be turned into a pile of rubble and then a strip of tar!
And as we talk about 'roots', when we colloquilly use the phrase 'pull up your roots and move on', if your roots have been to live in a house/area for just a few years then those roots (like a small plant) are not that difficult to pull up. There is a little disturbance of the surrounding situation but not much —and many Westerners move house often in their lifetime— but try uprooting an old long-established spreading tree the same way! Not only is it impossible to move but if some massively traumatic event uproots it suddenly the ground around it is massively changed. Not only that but it's easier to put down new roots when a plant is transplanted in a young stage, whereas trying to transplant a more established tree is not a quick or easy issue. And I'm not just referring to the physical analogy here, but also the relational uprooting. None of us like to leave long established relational roots.
I have also heard Westerners refer to their fear in the past of being 'taken over' by other nations in WWII and losing their rights over their properties. I hear 21st century fears of what if a certain huge Asian nation who is trying to spread its influence and control around the world currently, should take over and we lose control not only of our nation and banks but also our land. There were fears of communism in the past removing right to own property and there are fears of socialism and now the WEF (World Economic Forum) who are promoting the 'great reset' idea that the way to happiness is to own nothing…and thus personal land ownership would be eradicated.
Biblical Context and Correlations
Abraham was someone who 'left' (under God's direction of course but he still had to 'leave') the place his family lived (Ur of the Chaldeans). This took courage to leave the 'land' of his forefathers and cut himself and his family off from their wealth and identity and totally trust God for what he could not yet see or experience.
Then the 'land' issue is further seen when his descendants took over a land which required conquering their enemies and re-claiming that land. On an earthly level some people lost land in order for God's people to take possession of the land God was giving them (although as we see with Rahab, if their enemies were willing to join themselves to God's people and submit themselves to his Lordship and authority they would be able to enjoy the land that God was giving).
But note, part of God's promise to Abraham was to give him a 'land' that would be his and for the generations of his after him. A person without a 'place' was missing something. God created mankind to have a place — 'the earth', and more specifically man was placed in 'Eden'. However, man forfeited his 'place' due to his own sinful choices and was thus separated from the 'place' he was meant to occupy and find fulfilment as he walked with God and in God's will in that place. It seems ever since, man has continued to look for his 'place'. The Israelites had to learn that their 'place' had to be where God took them and put them and so God would define not only their place but their identity and their future. Their true sense of 'place' would only come as they put their faith in Him. But none-the-less the sense of 'place' is not some weird or wicked desire of the 'heathen' or 'other cultures'. The desire might be misplaced and sought within this earth as its fulfillment, but it is not inherently a wrong desire to desire to have a 'place' as intrinsic to forming one's identity. We were created for 'place' and God knows that and purposed that, but the biblical picture is that such a desire is to be fulfilled in belonging to God, being part of his people and trusting him to provide the 'place' we can both be rooted and find rest just as the Israelites did in the Promised Land.
The Christian's Hope
Rather than something that should be ignored or dismissed as 'unChristian' as we share the gospel with those whose honour-shame roots are strong particularly in relation to 'place' and 'land', it is something we should validate but then bring the good news of a superior 'place', a place that our Lord Jesus Christ has gone to prepare for us.
Unlike earth where our place is at risk of enemy takeover, or relocation demanded by conquering armies, or colonising nations, or future World powers, Christ offers us a 'place' which is permanent, eternal, superior, safe, and wonderful and perfect beyond anything this world can ever offer. It is a place out of the reach of enemies, colonisers, highway builders, or this World's powers. It is a place where our ancestors also go if they are part of God's family, so that we don't have to worry they will have no 'place' to rest or revisit on this earth and nor do we have to have the weight of fear and threat of shame on our shoulders to ensure their 'place' is thus preserved on this earth.
We firstly have to understand that our souls need more than earthly identity and earthly security and earthly wealth and earthly honour/dignity. We were not only made for this world. We were made for relationship with God and to dwell in his perfect place for us and to be rooted and find rest there. We forfeited Eden, and seek our man-made cultural-construct replacements, but Christ who is greater than any earthly ancestor, has won for us the privilege and honour of being able to join him in his Father's home 'place' that is being prepared for us for all eternity. Our place 'in him' grants us a superior identity, a supreme eternal wealth, and a secure dignity.
This is the good news of the gospel that we have to share, especially with those who are seeking honour and dignity through land. Let us seek to understand these desires biblically and then bring the gospel relevantly.
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