| dc.description.abstract | Major approaches to land reform have been argued to lack holistic thinking and contextualised solutions that impede on sustainable implementation projects. This has brought scholars to move towards a rethinking of land reform takes on a constructivist perspective to implementation setting and essentially emerge from contextualised conceptualisations. A critical element in such poly-rational approaches is meaningful participation. In South Africa, land reform became a central national development goal after apartheid to begin the long journey of historical redress. However, progress has been slow and less than 10 per cent of agricultural land had been transferred to landless demographics (PLAAS 2016, 67). As a result, farm dwellers who live in the private countryside on land that they do not own continue to live under circumstances that exacerbate their livelihoods, their land tenure security and access to basic services. Through a qualitative and constructivist approach, this thesis explores the nature and relevance of land reform in South Africa against the backdrop of the general literature and the perspectives and livelihoods of farm dwellers and civil society actors in Amajuba, KwaZulu-Natal. Critical elements in the process of contextualisation include inter alia contextual research and meaningful participation. Thus, the nature of participation for farm dwellers in land reform processes are scrutinised using typologies and concepts of participatory space, and how civil society actors claim spaces for farm dwellers. It finds that in Amajuba, KwaZulu-Natal, land reform policy – exemplified by the nationwide Agri-Parks Programme and a local agri-village project – uncovers significant gaps between farm dweller contexts and conceptualisations of projects, which may implicate the sustainability of project implementation, its effect on poverty and inequality reduction and democracy. | eng |