Land markets are central to development policy, though most published work tends to concentrate on market development rather than the social relationships and political consequences of land markets, especially in Africa. This special volume, comprising an extensive introduction by the guest editors, presents six papers on northern and southeast Ghana, Côte d"Ivoire, Zimbabwe, and southern Zambia, positioning land as a pressing and important topic in anthropology, development, and African studies. The anthology critically analyzes commoditization and its institutional changes as it becomes embedded in society, advancing debates concerning African land policy, which largely remain polarized between those who seek poverty reduction through the promotion of land markets and those who wish to protect the poor from land loss.