Short Abstract

This panel invites studies of the recent land rush and trajectories of agrarian change emerging in its aftermath, foregrounding African realities. We explore its historical and future legacies and engage in conceptual debates on land rush and land grabbing.

Long Abstract

In this panel, we suggest deciphering the recent land rush through an African prism – foregrounding the diversity of African realities and experiences. We interpret land rush broadly, encompassing operational and non-operational land deals and interlinked trajectories of e.g. land formalization and growth corridors. We welcome historical perspectives of the land rush, trajectories of agrarian change emerging in its aftermath, and related conceptual contributions.

The recent land rush has swept across rural Africa and left behind a different landscape in its wake. For instance, the large share of non-operational land deals leaves behind millions of hectares of land of abandoned enclosures. The small but growing body of literature shows that such abandoned land deals can have profound impacts on rural livelihoods, shaping broader dynamics of migration, conflict, differentiation and uncertainty. Thus, rather than land deals consisting of bygone ruins – that is, reified and ineffective things – this panel foregrounds them as ‘processual ruinations’ that are deeply transformative of the socio-environmental-political landscape.

The panel invites contributions that examine:

• What insights emerge when the recent land rush is viewed as part of a longer colonial and post-colonial history of land appropriation and agrarian change?

• What trajectories of agrarian change are emerging in the aftermath of the recent land rush?

The panel also invites contributions to conceptual debates and questions such as:

• Is the land rush over?

• Who counts as land grabber?

• Does land grabbing continue today, and how are its forms, actors, and impacts evolving?

This Panel has 1 pending paper proposal.
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