Cattle herders and the ‘green struggles’ in Senegal Blog

Cattle herders and the ‘green struggles’ in Senegal

During my brief field visit to Ndangane communal area in Senegal on 8 October 2024, I was struck by the lush green native trees, shrubs, grass and plants fenced and gated in the midst of the village. This was a "green enclosure" where the community land was enclosed for purposes of advancing the environmental agenda. In local parlance, they called…
Phillan Zamchiya
December 17, 2024
woman farming
Islam, custom, statutory law, and women’s land rights in rural Senegal BlogFeaturedFeatured Blog

Islam, custom, statutory law, and women’s land rights in rural Senegal

Phillan Zamchiya Policies, laws, and constitutions - written and unwritten - play the biggest role in many parts of the western world in governing land tenure relations given the dominant forms of individualised forms of property. However, my brief field visit to Damali village, an African Muslim community, in Senegal on 8 October 2024 confirmed a different conundrum of statutory,…
PLAAS
November 10, 2024
Lessons from the International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure Conference BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogUncategorized

Lessons from the International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure Conference

The International Interdisciplinary Security of Land Tenure (IISLT) conference brought together professionals, lawyers, academics, government officials and students to emphasise the importance collaboration and interdisciplinary approach in remedying the issue of tenure security. The conference was held from 6 to 8 May 2024 at the University of Free State with a promise to tackle the pervasive issue of insecure land…
PLAAS
May 31, 2024
A farmer from the San Joaquín Farm in Colombia's prime agricultural Magdalena Medio region.
Colombia’s expropriation without compensation and lessons from South Africa BlogFeaturedFeatured Blog

Colombia’s expropriation without compensation and lessons from South Africa

Ruth Hall and Ayanda Madlala In the sweltering heat of Colombia’s central lowlands, a dirt road flanked by fertile meadows with lush foliage, palm trees, horses and cattle eventually reaches 20-30 friendly campesinos outside the gates of a grand hacienda - the main house of a farming estate. It has all the hallmarks of its former luxuries: double-volume cool rooms,…
PLAAS
May 8, 2024
PLAAS mourns the passing of activist icon and MPhil candidate, Constance Mogale (1971-2023) BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PLAAS mourns the passing of activist icon and MPhil candidate, Constance Mogale (1971-2023)

Tribute from her supervisor and friend, Professor Ruth Hall I first met Constance Galeo Mogale sometime in 2002, upstairs in the offices of the Landless Movement of South Africa (LAMOSA) in Braamfontein. Peter Jacobs (now at HSRC) and I had asked her for an interview, for a series of reports we were writing evaluating land reform. She was assured and…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
January 25, 2024
PLAAS welcomes African visiting professor back from the diaspora BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PLAAS welcomes African visiting professor back from the diaspora

PLAAS welcomes African visiting professor back from the diaspora PLAAS is proud to announce that we are hosting Professor Thembela Kepe of the University of Toronto, who is also our former colleague, for six weeks on a prestigious African Diaspora Fellowship.  The fellowship is an initiative of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
December 7, 2023
Agrarian scholars tackle climate politics in new (free) book BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Agrarian scholars tackle climate politics in new (free) book

Agrarian scholars tackle climate politics in new (free) book As world leaders converge for the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28), the dominant narrative is focused on technical solutions to climate change. Amidst these discussions, centered on offset markets, carbon capture, and alternative energy technologies, a crucial element remains conspicuously absent: the rural and agrarian dimensions of the climate…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
December 4, 2023
Global Agrarian Studies Conference – Blog BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Global Agrarian Studies Conference – Blog

PLAAS makes a mark at the Global Agrarian Studies Conference In a recent gathering celebrating half a century of the Journal of Peasant Studies (JPS), scholars and activists converged in the heart of Beijing. UWC’s Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) was right there at the helm. The International Conference on Critical Agrarian Studies in the 21st Century,…
PLAAS
November 13, 2023
Rural Women and Climate Justice: A call to action in EMS Faculty BlogFeaturedFeatured BlogNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Rural Women and Climate Justice: A call to action in EMS Faculty

Professor Ruth Hall and Professor Moenieba Isaacs, Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) In a world gripped by the urgency of climate change, the voices of rural women often remain unheard. On August 23, 2023, we convened a public webinar hosted by our Economic and Management Sciences Faculty, bringing together a panel of experts to shed light on…
PLAAS
August 31, 2023
PLAAS PUBLIC LECTURE: How Many Women Actually Own Land? – women’s land rights in India and South Africa BlogFeatured Blog

PLAAS PUBLIC LECTURE: How Many Women Actually Own Land? – women’s land rights in India and South Africa

“Women’s land rights has become a key question in South Africa and globally, but how many women actually own the land,” is the question that Professor Bina Agarwal posed during a public lecture she delivered on June 13 2023. The renowned economist and academic, whose work marked a key moment in moving from women and development to gender and development,…
PLAAS
June 29, 2023