Normative Entanglement and the Identity Construction of Landed Belongings: A Socio-Anthropology of Legitimacies in Semien (Côte d’Ivoire)

Situated within a socio-anthropological framework of land dynamics, this qualitative inquiry conducted in Semien examines the interweaving of customary, institutional, and memorial normative regulations in the identity construction processes related to land belonging. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with both autochthonous and allochthonous actors, it unveils competing legitimisation configurations, wherein access to land becomes the site of a symbolic struggle articulating autochthony capital, genealogical narratives, and communal recognition. The analysis reveals that land, far from being a mere asset, functions as a marker of identity and a vector of social distinction. The discussion emphasises tensions between inherited normativity and contemporary reconfigurations of land rights, within the Ivorian context of legal pluralism and deeply contested memory. The study concludes with a call to urgently rethink land recognition mechanisms through situated practices and territorial subjectivities.