ABSTRACT
In Aceh, Indonesia, activities meant to improve land tenure security may have supported or may have undermined peacebuilding during the post-conflict, post-tsunami period of 2005 to 2009. Recent studies of property and resources in post-conflict scenarios have focused on the quantifiable economic value of resources and on how that value affects the escalation and relapse of violent conflict (Collier and Hoeffler 2004; Collier, Hoeffler, and Rohner 2009). However, many resources have political, cultural, and social value that renders them into powerful symbols that may be connected to the escalation and continuance of violence (Aspinall 2007). Such symbolic resources are often identified as central problems in intractable conflicts—especially where land or territory constitutes a symbolic homeland (Kahler and Walter 2006).
