‘Global Land Grabbing’ – call for papers

Posted on May 17, 2010 by - Land

wheatiiCo-organized and hosted by the Future Agricultures Consortium in partnership with the Journal of Peasant Studies and the Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI). This international academic conference on ‘Global Land Grabbing’ will be held on 6-8 April 2011 at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, Brighton, UK.

The focus of the conference will be on the politics of global land grabbing and agrarian change. Papers are expected to address some of the most urgent and strategic questions around global land grab. Some suggested topics are below:

  • (a) What changes in broad agrarian structures are emerging? Are these new forms of agrarian capitalism or repeats of the past?
  • (b) What is the nature and extent of rural social differentiation – in terms of class, gender, ethnicity – following changes in land use and land property relations as well as organizations of production and exchange?
  • (c) Have land deals undermined local level and national food security – or not? How, whose and to what extent?
  • (d) To what extent have agrarian political struggles been provoked by the new land investment dynamics? What are the issues that unite or divide the rural poor, organized movements, and rural communities around the issue of land deals?
  • (e) What are the various competing policy and political narratives and discourses around the multiple crises of food, energy, climate and finance, and how have these shaped and been reshaped by the land deal politics?
  • (f) How have competing frameworks and views on land property been deployed by various camps around the contested meanings of ‘marginal lands’ (or, idle’, ‘waste’, ‘unoccupied’ lands)?
  • (g) What are the emerging trends around dynamics of power, elites and corruption, and land as a source of patronage?
  • (h) Have global land policies of different overseas development agencies (World Bank, FAO, EU, IFAD, and so on) contributed to facilitating/encouraging or blocking/discouraging land deals? What are the strengths and limitations of ‘code of conduct’, certification, regulation, information dissemination, and capacity-building strategies?
  • (i) What are the dynamics of international politics of land grabs in the broader context of energy, mining, forestry and conservation; and the role of big capital and powerful interests?
  • (j) What are some of the relevant emerging alternatives from key actors?

The organizers invite papers that offer rigorous analysis of the identified issues from various critical perspectives including agrarian political economy, political sociology and political ecology. We also encourage comparative studies. We welcome proposals for thematic panels.

Instructions for submission of abstracts (200 words)

The deadline for the Call for Papers is 31 October 2010. The Call for Papers is now closed.

Some papers presented at the workshop will be selected and considered for publication in The Journal of Peasant Studies which is SSCI ranked. For more information about the journal and to request a free sample copy go to: www.tandf.co.uk/journals/jps

Travel grants

Travel grants may be made available, depending on available funding, to enable presenters to participate in this event. Please indicate in your application whether you would like to apply for a travel grant. This will entail a further application. Note that there is no guarantee of funding becoming available.

Additional information

For additional information, you may contact one of the workshop organizers:

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