The concept of 'hybridity' is often still poorly theorized and problematically applied by peace
and development scholars and researchers of resource governance. This book turns to a
particular ethnographic reading of Michel Foucault's Governmentality and investigates its
usefulness to study precisely those mechanisms processes and practices that hybridity once
promised to clarify. Claim-making to land and authority in a post-conflict environment is the
empirical grist supporting this exploration of governmentality. Specifically in the periphery
of Bukavu. This focus is relevant as urban land is increasingly becoming scarce in rapidly
expanding cities of eastern Congo primarily due to internal rural-to-urban migration as a
result of regional insecurity. The governance of urban land is also important analytically as
land governance and state authority in Africa are believed to be closely linked and co-evolve.
An ethnographic reading of governmentality enables researchers to study hybridization without
biasing analysis towards hierarchical dualities. Additionally a better understanding of
hybridization in the claim-making practices may contribute to improved government intervention
and development assistance in Bukavu and elsewhere.
