Notions of land and agrarian reform are now well entrenched in post-apartheid South Africa. But what this reform actually means for everyday life is not clearly understood, nor the way it will impact on the political economy. In the Shadow of Policy explores the interface between the policy of land and agrarian reform and its implementation; and between the decisions of policy 'experts' and actual livelihood experiences in the fields and homesteads of land reform projects.
Starting with an overview of the socio-historical context in which land and agrarian reform policy has evolved in South Africa, the volume presents empirical case studies of land reform projects in the Northern, Western and Eastern Cape provinces. These draw on multiple voices from various sectors and provide a rich source of material and critical reflections to inform future policy and research agendas.
In the Shadow of Policy will be a key reference tool for those working in the area of development studies and land policy, and for civil society groups and NGOs involved in land restitution.

Paul Hebinck, Ben Cousins, Henning de Klerk, Jonathan Denison, Ntombekhaya Faku, Derick Fay, Klara Jacobson, Petunia Khutswane, Rosalie Kingwill, Karin Kleinbooi, Zamile Madyibi, Francois Marais, Modise Moseki, Malebogo Phetlhu, Robert Ross, Dik Roth, Limpho Taoana, Harriët Tienstra, Wim van Averbeke, Yves van Leynseele

Part One: Setting the Scene Land and Agrarian Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Chapter 1 Post-apartheid land and agrarian reform policy and practices in South Africa: themes, processes and issues - Paul Hebinck
Chapter 2 Land and agrarian reform policies from a historical perspective - Paul Hebinck
Chapter 3 Land reform and agriculture uncoupled: the political economy of rural reform in post-apartheid South Africa - Ben Cousins
Part Two: 'Mind the Gap': Discrepancies between Policies and Practices in South African Land Reform
Chapter 4 Consultants, business plans and land reform practices - Francois Marais
Chapter 5 'Seeing like a land reform agency': cultural politics and the contestation of community farming at Makhoba - Yves van Leynseele
Chapter 6 Land reform and newly emerging social relations on Gallawater A farm - Modise Moseki
Chapter 7 Property rights and land reform in the Western Cape - Harriët Tienstra and Dik Roth
Chapter 8 'Rent a crowd' land reform at Survive and Dikgoho land reform projects - Limpho Taoana
Chapter 9 Locating policies in the daily practices of land reform beneficiaries: the Mighty and Wales land reform farms - Malebogo Phetlhu
Chapter 10 Where are the youth in land reform? The Vuki case - Petunia Khutswane
Chapter 11 Land compensation in the upper Kat River valley - Robert Ross
Chapter 12 In the shadows of the cadastre: family law and custom in Rabula and Fingo Village - Rosalie Kingwill
Chapter 13 Land reform, tradition and securing land for women in Namaqualand - Karin Kleinbooi
Part Three: Competing Knowledge Regimes in Communal Area Agriculture
Chapter 14 What constitutes 'the agrarian' in contemporary rural African settlements of the central Eastern Cape? - Paul Hebinck and Wim van Averbeke
Chapter 15 The Massive Food Production Programme: a case study of agricultural policy continuities and changes - Klara Jacobson
Chapter 16 The Massive Food Production Programme: does it work? - Zamile Madyibi
Chapter 17 'Still feeding ourselves': everyday practices of the Siyazondla Homestead Food Production Programme in Mbhashe - Henning de Klerk
Chapter 18 Cultivators in action, Siyazondla in action? Trends and potentials in homestead cultivation - Derick Fay
Chapter 19 Smallholder irrigation schemes as an agrarian development option for the Cape region - Wim van Averbeke and Jonathan Denison
Chapter 20 Cattle and rural development in the Eastern Cape: the Nguni project revisited - Ntombekhaya Faku and Paul Hebinck
About the authors
Index