ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how competing historically and socially constructed knowledges have affected the discourse on post-apartheid South Africa’s land reform program. The knowledges include those of ‘dispossessed communities’, ‘commercial’ and/or ‘white’ farming groups. A wide range of interests and knowledges is contained within each of these groups. I make no attempt in this chapter to portray them as unproblematic constructions. I consider them ‘knowledge-allies’, i.e. groups who share a common knowledge or viewpoint. A second point of this chapter is to recount my experience of applying geo-spatial technologies (GSTs) in assessing land reform project performance. The contentious nature of the land reform debate led me to employ a seemingly more neutral arbiter to specific resource questions. I apply the findings of this exercise to the context of land reform and provide a few tentative recommendations for future research and policy.
