Seeing plantations as complex and contested spaces

Seeing plantations as complex and contested spaces

by Anne Hennings, PhD, University of Muenster

Much has been written on the global land rush, its implications for affected communities and the environment, as well as its conflict potential. However, I argue that assemblage thinking provides a particularly insightful analytical lens to zoom into exclusion mechanisms at play in plantations and respective efforts of contestation. Even in spaces of tight surveillance, increasing intra-community cleavages, and the breakdown of social institutions, I show how the emergence of unusual alliances and solidarity may challenge the status quo.

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Framing “land grabbing”: How the hype has been constructed

Framing “land grabbing”: How the hype has been constructed

by Jan Sändig, SFB 923, University of Tübingen

Land grabbing has been widely discussed in recent years. It seems quite evident why: Corporate investment in farmland has increased significantly and severely impacted many local communities. But this is only one reason why land grabbing has become a prominent topic. As I discuss in this article, it has also been “successfully” made visible by activists.

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Land Grabs as ‘Shrinking Spaces’ for Civil Society?

Land Grabs as ‘Shrinking Spaces’ for Civil Society?

by Louisa Prause, Freie Universität Berlin

The term ‘shrinking spaces’ describes state actions that aim to restrict civil societies’ activities. In this article I investigate in how far spaces for civil society action are also influenced by changes in land control by looking at two cases of large-scale land transformations in Senegal. Read more

“Land grab” or global public problem? The conceptual challenges of a research object in vogue

“Land grab” or global public problem? The conceptual challenges of a research object in vogue

Sina Schlimmer, Sciences Po Bordeaux, Les Afriques dans le Monde

Questions arising from the phenomenon of the “global land grab” have been shaping the agendas of NGOs, World Bank conferences and academic seminars for about a decade. The publications dedicated to this hot topic are nearly uncountable. This ongoing discussion about a seemingly new wave of large-scale agricultural investments by international companies in countries of the Global South poses several methodological and conceptual challenges for scholars. Basing on the results of my PhD research, this article invites to reconsider the hype on “land grabbing” as a public problem which is constructed on different levels. Read more

Same same but different… Challenges in the research on traditional authorities

Same same but different… Challenges in the research on traditional authorities

by Sarah Kirst, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

A small village in the northern part of Ghana: Together with my research assistant and eleven other men – the elders of the village – I am sitting in the shade of a big sheanut tree. Shortly before I already made a courtesy call on the chief of the village. I paid him my respect by presenting him the obligatory drinks money before asking him for his permission concerning the upcoming interviews with his elders. These days he is old and fragile. Yet, few years earlier he was the one who decided – in consultation with his elders – to lease out thousands of hectares of community land to a Norwegian company. Read more