dispossession

Dispossession refers to the loss of control over land, housing, or other resources that people rely on for livelihoods, security, or cultural identity. It can result from government action, corporate projects, or more diffuse processes, and may involve formal legal transfers or informal coercion. Dispossession often overlaps with eviction, displacement, or expropriation, but emphasizes the loss of access and tenure rather than just physical removal.

Common mechanisms include eminent domain and expropriation for public works or private development; land reforms or privatizations; compulsory relocations tied to infrastructure, mining, or agriculture; gentrification and urban redevelopment; and legal or administrative action that alters tenure without adequate consent or compensation. In many cases, dispossession affects marginalized groups, especially Indigenous peoples, peasant farmers, and urban poor.

Historically, dispossession has accompanied colonial conquest, settler colonization, and postcolonial state-building. In the modern era, large-scale land acquisitions, sometimes described as land grabbing, involve state or corporate actors acquiring land from local communities, often with limited consultation or redress. Indigenous sovereignty and customary tenure systems are frequently contested, leading to ongoing disputes over rights to territory and resources.

Impacts include loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, displacement, and erosion of cultural and social ties. Legal remedies range from restitution and compensation to formal recognition of land rights and protective laws. International norms and human rights instruments encourage consultation, free, prior, and informed consent, and mechanisms to address harms; adequate remedies and safeguards remain unevenly implemented in many jurisdictions.