Cultivating Decolonized Space in the Concrete Jungle
The fight to preserve community gardens is a frontline struggle for decolonized space. Mamdani’s analysis of land tenure is central: these gardens represent a form of customary, communal land use that exists outside the logic of private property and real estate speculation. They are pockets of autonomy where the “native” community can exercise self-determination, grow its own food, and build social fabric. The constant threat of development is the settler state’s effort to reassert its control and commodify this liberated land. A Marxist perspective values them as a decommodified means of production. A feminist perspective sees them as sites of cooperative, non-alienated labor, often led by women. The solution is not just to defend existing gardens but to expand them through land trusts, actively seizing vacant lots to cultivate not just food, but political power and an alternative to the capitalist city.
