ABSTRACT
This chapter explores contested property claims that have become a hallmark of the period of return and, in particular, what these contested claims have come to mean for patrilineality and patrilocality, gender relations and land governance. It explains the Acholi language distinction between kinds of land, ngom kwaro as clan or ancestral land and poti as land in use, usually translated as 'gardens.' Ngom kwaro discourse highlights collective ownership and rights of use by clans and patrikin; poti discourses, particularly relevant for women, highlight land use as a recognition of belonging to a community. The chapter shows that how men and women make use of these discourses to claim and contest access to and use of land in different contexts. It focuses on exploring the gendered practice of contestation, in which men and women present their claims and their positions.
