Authenticating deeds / organizing society: Considerations for Blockchain-based Land Registries

Abstract:

This chapter steps back from specific empirical cases and discusses alternative theoretical lenses that can be used to study if and how blockchain-based registries in Africa will be affecting organizations and society. Those lenses are: Neoinstitutionalism, Structuration theory, and Actor-Network theory. Each of them is adopted to outline aspects of blockchain first, then to highlight specificities in Ghana, finally to suggest research lines. This plurality of theoretical lenses encourages to foster a more nuanced understanding of unconventional contexts of technology in use, thus to derive better recommendations than those based on reductionist frameworks, which often overlook specificities of developing countries.