Professor Till Förster, Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Basel, Switzerland

“A theme that draws throughout the entire thesis is the commodification of land, which simultaneously creates opportunities for some actors and disadvantages for others. Related to that is a thorough and convincing questioning of conventional conceptualizations, in particular the usual dichotomy of urban versus rural. Jimu’s understanding of land transactions as a practice that produces its own social space and creates its own normativity is certainly a challenge to more conventional interpretations.”