Glossary of Terms

Ethical Land Transition

The process of transferring Land stewardship that centers justice, cultural reunion, and right relationship with Land. These transitions combine technical aspects like legal and real estate frameworks with cultural and spiritual dimensions to heal historical harms while creating new possibilities for relationship and stewardship. Ethical Land Transitions typically include building multi-cultural transition teams including title holders relinquishing Land/wealth, communities who have historically been dispossessed from Land reuniting with Land and culture, and practitioners who support the process. Voluntary participation is an essential component of Ethical Land Transitions, and the process invites everyone to traverse their own path of personal and collective liberation. 

Land (always capitalized)

Land is a sovereign, sentient being encompassing all territory, waters, and living beings. When capitalized, "Land" acknowledges its role as a living entity that provides the foundation for healing and liberation. This understanding shifts our approach from ownership to reverence and reciprocity, and invites us to come into right relationship with Land. 

Right Relationship with Land

Humans have a reciprocal relationship with the planet, in which we care for the Land, and the Land provides life and nourishment to us. Industrial and capitalistic practices of Land commodification, resource extraction, and synthesis of human-made toxic compounds threaten the planet’s ability to provide for human life. Being in right relationship means recognizing the vital interdependence between humans and planet, that the planet’s natural resources are finite, and that humans have a responsibility to shift our actions and approach in this relationship to create more mutual care, respect, and sustainability. Indigenous wisdom and traditional protocols offer invaluable guidance of how to come into right relationship with Land. 

Reunion

The process of reestablishing cultural and physical connections to Land for communities historically dispossessed from Land, particularly Black, Indigenous, and people of color. This encompasses restoring traditional stewardship, language, and ceremonies disrupted by colonial systems, recognizing that separation from Land has created wounds requiring holistic healing approaches. 

Land Justice

A movement working toward equitable relationships with Land by addressing historical harms and current inequities. This work seeks to center and amplify Indigenous and BIPOC leadership while supporting broader systemic change, while calling on everyone, regardless of ancestry, to contribute in meaningful ways to the movement. 

Culturally Affirmative Processes

Practices that honor and center the cultural traditions, histories, and needs of communities involved in Land transitions, including those who have experienced the harms of colonization, AND those who are working to understand and undo the harms of wealth hoarding, supremacist ideology, and colonization.

Decommodification

In the capitalistic world and “conventional” real estate, Land is treated as an investment asset and commodity that is bought, sold, or traded for profit. Decommodification is the act of removing Land from the capitalistic market. Current examples of decommodifying Land include holding Land in the legal instrument of a Trust to specify the long term use intentions of the Land and prohibit the sale or capitalization of the Land, using tools like conservation easements to prevent sub-dividing and development, and employing the services of community Land trusts and/or local government organizations who specialize in protecting the long term future of Land and keeping it off of the capitalistic market.

Rematriation

The process of returning Land to Indigenous peoples with a focus on restoring feminine and cultural balance in alignment with traditional stewardship practices. Rematriation is not necessarily only female–it is uplifting the ancient practices of caring and mothering associated with, but not limited to, femaleness.  

Landback Movement

A movement advocating for the return of Land to Indigenous peoples to restore their sovereignty and stewardship.

Reparations

Acts or policies aimed at addressing historical injustices and systemic inequities, often through financial or Land redistribution. Reparations has a specific connotation to Black/African American communities of the U.S. 

Liberatory Approach

To truly create liberation, we must challenge the fictional dichotomy that the world can be simplified into categories of “good” and “bad” people, the “oppressed” and the “oppressors.” A liberatory approach acknowledges that the traumas of colonization, capitalism, supremacist ideology, and the ongoing attempted destruction of indigenous/Land based cultures (which historically has affected all races, all around the world) are enormous traumas that affect everyone, those descended from communities of colonizers and the colonized alike. Just as there is a need to support dispossessed communities’ reunion with Land and culture, there is also a need for communities who have access to hoarded/accumulated wealth to understand that capitalistic wealth has been built by systems of oppression and enslavement, and that letting go of wealth, control, and power over others is also a process of liberation. Each of us has our own work, and needs our own support, as we traverse unique journeys of healing for our communities and our relationship with the earth. 

Relinquishment

The intentional process by which title holders who have access to hoarded resources and accumulated wealth release “ownership” of Land and power in service of justice and reconciliation. In Ethical Land Transitions, relinquishment is not something forced–it must be voluntary and participatory. 

Title Holder, instead of "Owner"

The term “owner” comes from a worldview that humans can assert dominion over Land as a commodity, and the widespread belief that humans having “ownership” of Land is an ultimate form of individual “security.” Title Holder is a more neutral term that more specifically describes the role: a Title is a document that represents a parcel of Land in the structure of the private property system; the Title Holder is the person or entity whom this document is assigned to, and who is responsible for meeting the basic requirements in order to hold the Title, such as paying property tax and paying any loans associated with the Title. This language reframe encourages reflection on the fact that humans have been in a reciprocal relationship with Land since time immemorial, and have been actively tending Land for at least tens of thousands of years, if not longer. There have been and always will be people in relationship with Land who do not “own” Land, and ownership should not be a requirement in order for humans to experience comfort and care and be in direct relationship with Land. With all that said, Title Holder is still an imperative role for interfacing with the dominant systems. 

Accompaniment

A supportive role played by project conveners, Land transition navigators, and facilitators, often with the tertiary support of real estate agents, attorneys, and other practitioners, in service to guiding communities or individuals through ethical Land transitions.

Bioregionalism

A place-based approach to organizing and resource management that aligns with a specific region's ecological and cultural characteristics.

Code Switching and Bridging

Different communities of different ethnic and/or cultural identities have unique vocabulary, values, and ways of communicating, even if they technically use the same language. Similarly, different “professional” fields, such as conventional real estate, the study and practice of law, and government administrations have their own lexicons of language and values. Code switching is the practice of effectively moving between different “worlds” of language and understanding. Bridging is an essential practice where a skilled practitioner interprets and translates information from one lexicon to another in a way that can be understood by a different group. In ethical Land transitions, bridging most often happens between people of a shared cultural identity and practitioners of systems, where a facilitator/interpreter can both help to support comprehension for folks who are not versed in “legalese” and the language of governments/public policy, and can also help lawyers and county officials more fully understand the needs and desires of a community group taking on stewardship of Land. 

Easements

Easements are legal agreements that define Land use or access rights often employed in Land transition strategies to align with community or environmental goals. Easements can serve many different purposes: Environmental/Conservation easements may be used to protect old growth trees, give specific instructions of how different ecosystems should be tended, prohibit the use of pesticides, prevent different forms of human development, etc. Land use easements commonly grant things like shared use of roads, legal access on other people’s properties, and how maintenance costs are divided among neighbors. Cultural easements are used to grant Land access to people for the purpose of cultural use, making it possible for people to be in cultural relationship with Land without being title holders. Cultural easements are beginning to gain more traction as a valuable tool to grant Indigenous communities access to the use of sacred sites in a way that is legally recognized. 

Just Transition

A framework for shifting from extractive and exploitative systems to regenerative and equitable models of Land and resource management. Here is a visual of the just transition framework.

Kinship

A worldview that sees humans as interconnected with all living beings and the Land, fostering a relationship based on respect and reciprocity. This worldview recognizes Land as a relative rather than a resource, embracing relationships of mutual care and responsibility.