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SEMINAR: The green transition in Africa and beyond – a tale of extractivism, fossil capitalism, and green (neo)colonialism

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SEMINAR: Navigating the green energy dilemma: a case study of geothermal development in Kenya

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Apply: PhD scholarships: Digital Agrarian Futures project

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Call for applications 2026: New Thinking on Integrating Biodiversity and Social Justice short course

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Expropriation for land justice: a public dialogue with Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso FeaturedHome SliderNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Expropriation for land justice: a public dialogue with Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso

Nathan Adams - UWC Institutional Development Can the Expropriation Act be used as a tool for land justice? The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) and Tshisimani Centre for Activist Education (TCAE) at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) hosted a public dialogue on land justice and the newly signed Expropriation Act. The Minister of Land Reform…
PLAAS
March 12, 2025
Expropriation as a tool for land justice: Public dialogue with Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso News & EventsNews & Events Featured

Expropriation as a tool for land justice: Public dialogue with Rural Development and Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso

Image courtesy of Ndifuna Ukwazi. Venue: UWC, Jakes Gerwel Hall Date: Tuesday, 11 March 2025 Time: 12:00 to 14:00 The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies and Tshisimani School for Activist Education at the University of the Western Cape, invite you to a public dialogue on land justice, and expropriation as a means of advancing land justice. This is…
PLAAS
March 7, 2025
Climate Change and Rural Livelihoods in South Africa An Agenda for Policy-Oriented Research
Post-doctoral fellowship at University of the Western Cape’s Department of Anthropology News & Events

Post-doctoral fellowship at University of the Western Cape’s Department of Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology from the University of the Western Cape is offering a post-doc position for 18 months with a thematic focus on social justice, environmental politics and socio-ecological transformation, as part of the research project Transforming environmental governance in the Anthropocene: an action research in the field of Access and Benefit-Sharing. The TEGA project was launched in July…
PLAAS
March 7, 2025
NELGA Masterclass: Comparative land law in Africa – legal traditions, colonial legacies, and innovations FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

NELGA Masterclass: Comparative land law in Africa – legal traditions, colonial legacies, and innovations

This masterclass forms part of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa lecture series, hosted by PLAAS. Wednesday, 12 March 2025 10:00 – 13:00 SAST / CAT Register on: https://shorturl.at/NayHx Land law remains the foundation of legal and economic systems across Africa, structuring resource access, economic development and social equity. This lecture comparatively explores the diverse landscape of…
PLAAS
March 3, 2025
Call for applications: The Political Economy of Land Governance in Africa 2025 short course News & Events

Call for applications: The Political Economy of Land Governance in Africa 2025 short course

Across Africa, the majority of both rural and urban residents have insecure tenure rights, either in law or in practice. They face the legacy of land dispossession, colonial legal codes, contested customary tenure systems, and growing pressure on land in the face of commercial investments. How can land rights and land governance in Africa be strengthened? To address these challenges…
PLAAS
February 17, 2025
Call for papers: Land, Life and Society Conference 2025 News & Events

Call for papers: Land, Life and Society Conference 2025

Picture courtesy of Zacharia Mashele/Ndifuna Ukwazi. Land, Life and Society International conference on the road to ICARRD+20 A global conversation about the politics of land and resource struggles in an era of global and local crises 7-9 October 2025 University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Conference fee for three days: US$200 per attendee. PLAAS is pleased to…
PLAAS
January 30, 2025
Call for applications: Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Call for applications: Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies

The Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies is the only programme in the land and agrarian studies field offered at a South African University, and is accredited at NQF level 8. It offers: internationally recognised lecturers with decades of established expertise in poverty, land and agrarian studies; a solid understanding of key concepts in poverty, land, agrarian reform,…
PLAAS
January 8, 2025
Salt mining.
NELGA Masterclass: Mining, Extractivism, and Land Rights in Africa FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

NELGA Masterclass: Mining, Extractivism, and Land Rights in Africa

This masterclass forms part of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa lecture series, hosted by PLAAS. Thursday, 05 December 2024 10:00 - 13:00 SAST / CAT Register on: https://tinyurl.com/2s3tnzcc Since colonial times, the extraction and export of natural resources have defined Africa’s insertion and subordinate status in the global capitalist economy. After a period of relative stagnation,…
PLAAS
November 26, 2024
Public talk: Chinese ‘colonialism’, capital accumulation, and the Belt and Road Initiative FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

Public talk: Chinese ‘colonialism’, capital accumulation, and the Belt and Road Initiative

Global capital accumulation involves international trade, a flow of profits, interest, and rent from investments, and wealth owned by a country’s investors in other countries. With the increased role of China in the global economy, some American elites have come to view China as the US’s “one peer competitor” and a threat to its hegemony. Their mobilisation in response to…
PLAAS
November 22, 2024
Watch: Living Landscapes in Action – a call for conservation to integrate social, spatial justice News & EventsNews & Events FeaturedUncategorized

Watch: Living Landscapes in Action – a call for conservation to integrate social, spatial justice

South Africa is ranked sixth in the world for its rich marine and terrestrial biodiversity. But this global accolade is characterised by deep inequalities, social and spatial injustices, and displacement of communities from their land in the name of conservation. The South African government and many other African states are signatories to the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. The agreement  aims…
Deshnee Subramany
October 18, 2024