The Women's Land Rights Movement, Customary Law and Religion in Tanzania

Abstract

This study investigates the extent to which the women's land rights movement in Tanzania in the 1990s 'engaged with religion', by mobilizing the support of religious organizations, invoking religious values and teachings in pursuit of its goals, and/or critiquing religious traditions where they were perceived to stand in the way of the movement's aims. The research demonstrates that the ways in which social movements engage with religion depend on the local religious, cultural and political context, as well as the issue of concern. It also indicates that religious organizations can act as facilitators rather than obstacles to campaigns to improve women's land rights.

Citation

B. Killian. The Women’s Land Rights Movement, Customary Law and Religion in Tanzania. Working Paper No. 57, Religions and Development Research Programme. University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK (2011) 1-65. ISBN 978-0-7044-2873-7

The Women’s Land Rights Movement, Customary Law and Religion in Tanzania

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2011