#land-ownership

#land-ownership

It also echoed a longstanding pattern by colonial powers to apply their own ideas of land ownership to places that were already inhabited, often overlooking established local systems. Greenland's Inuit hold land to be shared collectively, rather than privately owned, an idea that fundamentally conflicts with Trump's desire to buy or otherwise acquire the country. Historically, in many Indigenous societies, people saw themselves as stewards of the land, managing it through seasonal hunting and harvesting, safeguarding water sources and maintaining ancestral sites.

Brittany Shyne's stunning documentary observes Black farmers in the American south over the course of seven years, and portrays the beauty and the hardships of working with the land. The black-and-white cinematography lends a visual sumptuousness to the rituals of harvest: we see giant machines extracting cotton buds from open bolls, leaving behind a whirl of white fluffs fluttering in the air.

On Hawaii Island, Pennsylvania resident Andrew Tepper has emerged as one of the island's largest landowners, purchasing over 14,000 acres since 2021. He's also become a controversial figure, holding a Burning Man-inspired festival called "Falls on Fire" on his agricultural land in 2023 and 2024 without the proper permits. The event has raised concerns among neighbors, environmentalists and government agencies about its impacts to the community, such as increased traffic, environmental damage and fire hazards, especially with the Lahaina fire fresh in their minds.

In the wilderness of northern Maine, a long tradition of allowing public access, even on privately owned lands, has shaped the region's culture and identity since the 1800s. So when "No Trespassing" signs showed up around Burnt Jacket Mountain, at the edge of Moosehead Lake, this summer, it did not go unnoticed. Neither did the new surveillance cameras and locked gates in the woods, nor the crews cutting a new road up the mountain who deflected questions from neighbors by citing nondisclosure agreements.

My mum was very ill and she couldn't move around any more, he said. She, by the end of her life, had her leg amputated and she could barely communicate. She was very, very ill. She loved her donkeys and I wanted her to be able to see her donkeys. I bought a field for 20,000 at the back of their house. I said, here's your field. It's yours for as long as you may live.

Power hides by setting us against each other... Rural people are endlessly instructed that they're oppressed not by the lords of the land, but by vicious and ignorant townies.