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vii Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge financial support from the Basel Institute on Governance (BIG) for the period from October 2008 to September 2009, and the Stipendienkommission für Nachwuchskräfte aus Entwicklungsländern-Basel Stadt from July 2010 to August 2011. I developed the research proposal while working as researcher in the BIG’s International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) in Basel and carried out my fieldwork in Blantyre between September 2009 and July 2010. I am indebted to Prof. Dr. Till Förster for his facilitation of both funding opportunities. I acknowledge the friendship and participation of the actors whose agency and creativity is discussed in this thesis. For reasons of confidentiality, I have chosen to use pseudonyms to represent them. The names of the villages and village headmen are also fictitious. Likewise, I appreciate the support received from the following institutions: the Blantyre City Assembly, Department of Lands (s), Department of Legal Aid (s), District Commissioner (Blantyre), Malawi Housing Corporation (MHC), Chileka Police Station, and The Society of Malawi. Many thanks to Divine Fuh (PhD), Peter Lindenmann (PhD), Lucy Koechlin (PhD), Ephrem Tesema, Dr. Veit Alt, Filomena Mazumdar, Regina Stalder, Marguerite Rentz, Dr. Kerstin Bauer, Dr. Gregor Drobler, Prof. Brigit Obrist, Dr. Piet Van Eeuwijk, Sarah Stettler, Kathrin Heitz, Andrea Kaufmann, Henri Yere (PhD), René Egloff, Michelle Engeler, Bettina Frei, Rita Kesselring, Sarah Zuber, Fiona Siegenthaler, Vendelin Simon, Jana Gerold, Barbara Heer, Sabine Schultz, Regula Tschumi, Dr. Allemmaya Mulugeta, Nadya Kroll and residents of Katholisches Studentenhaus HH II. I acknowledge the study leave granted by Mzuzu University (Malawi) to enable me undertake doctoral studies. I appreciate support from Dr. Golden Msilimba, Yonamu Ngwira, Felix Majawa, friends in the Department of Geography and Clement Boyce. My family, Nellie, Mahala and Luntha, my parents and siblings, my relatives in-law, and Dezie Trigu and his family, have been constant sources of encouragement. I thank them all. My thanks to Prof. Dr. Till Förster (Universität Basel) and Prof. Francis B. Nyamnjoh (University of Cape Town) for being good supervisors during the writing of the PhD thesis upon which this book has been developed. I am responsible for the errors. viii ...

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