ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how customary claims to land are reasserted in post-independence Timor Leste. It focuses on a predominantly Naueti-speaking community in the southeastern district of Viqueque. The chapter provides an overview of the social and political organization of communities living in village Babulo, Uatolari sub-district. It discusses the impact of in-migration, war and displacement on customary tenures and the capacity of origin' groups to maintain control over access to land and natural resources. The chapter describes some ways in which origin' groups have sought to reassert their claims to land in the post-independence environment, and reveals some of the ongoing processes of negotiation between origin' and in-migrant groups and customary and local government authorities. It traces contemporary tenure arrangements in order to illustrate the effects of return and reconstitution of property rights after the Indonesian occupation.
