ABSTRACT
Land is one of the most important intersections of social purpose and economic choice. Nationalist movements have invariably ascribed important meanings to patterns of land ownership, as well as the uses to which land is put. As Colin Williams and Anthony Smith observe, “Whatever else it may be, nationalism is always a struggle for control of land; whatever else the nation may be, it is nothing if not a mode of constructing social space” (Williams and Smith 1983: 502; see also Smith 2000; Penrose 2002). Markets for land are indeed full of social meanings. Governments therefore often regulate ownership in land in order to serve purposes. Those purposes are determined by various collective identities within a society. A society’s national identity, in particular, has historically been the source of such social purpose.
