Empowering a Peasantry in a Caribbean Context : The Case of Land Settlement Schemes in Guyana, 1865-1985

Land has always been a political commodity, and nowhere has this been more the case than in Guyana. This study of the land settlement schemes of Guyana over a 160-year period analyses the interrelationships among conflicting forces in the political economy of Guyana, which frustrated attempts at empowerment of the peasantry. The impact of these schemes on social differentiation and on the balance of political forces and racial power is also discussed.