“Emerging Forms of Authority in Land Access?”: The Occult and Witchcraft Among Malawian Migrants in Peri-urban Zimbabwe

Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to examine the role religion and ritual in facilitating access security over land among migrants peri-urban Zimbabwe. based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out Malawians settled Lydiate, an informal settlement Zimbabwe’s Norton area. study shows that though they are not only sources land, ritual-based forms authority—the Nyau cult witchcraft—play a matters. Migrants turn enchanting, dramatic, yet dreadful reinforce their ownership land. Because it feared respected by adherents account its association with deathly symbols, able yield secure for those who seek name. Others against expropriation from fellow through eccentric means witchcraft. do choose these alternative authority preference; very often there no formal institutions can use. Legal courts local authorities unsympathetic toward interests. Thus, migrant squatter settlements have become dynamic spaces novel regulating coveted resources such as