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

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What South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruling on the Tafelberg property means for equitable access to land and spatial justice

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New Publication: Bridging divides against erratic democratic trajectories

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PLAAS stands in solidarity with African citizens

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PLAAS Director Professor Andries du Toit moves to UWC’s School of Government FeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PLAAS Director Professor Andries du Toit moves to UWC’s School of Government

The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) bids farewell to its outgoing director, Professor Andries du Toit. Professor du Toit will continue his work at the University of the Western Cape at the School of Government, where he will contribute to teaching, research, and community engagement, specifically in the areas of poverty, citizenship, and democracy. Professor du Toit…
PLAAS
April 30, 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
Working Paper: Global land deals: What has been done, what has changed, and what’s next? FeaturedFeatured PublicationNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

Working Paper: Global land deals: What has been done, what has changed, and what’s next?

WORKING PAPER #65 15-01-2024 Land Deal Politics Initiative (LDPI) Working Paper By Wolford, W., White, B., Scoones, I. Hall, R., Edelman, M. and Borras, S.M.2 In 2010, the Land Deals Politics Initiative formed to study the rising number of large-scale land deals taking place around the world. As the so-called ‘global land grab’ took shape, we organised small grant competitions…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
January 15, 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
PODCAST Ep 13: Climate politics, carbon offsets and green minerals Agrarian PoliticsFeaturedNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PODCAST Ep 13: Climate politics, carbon offsets and green minerals

What is the relationship between climate change and agrarian struggles? As world leaders, and fossil fuel lobbyists, convene for climate negotiations at COP28 (the Conference of the Parties) in Dubai, we talk with Kirtana Chandrasekaran from Friends of the Earth International (India/Scotland) and Emilinah Namaganda of Utrecht University (Uganda/Netherlands) about their work on the political economy of global climate responses.…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
December 7, 2023
PODCAST Ep 12: China’s ‘Going Out’ Policy And Global Agrarian Change Agrarian PoliticsNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PODCAST Ep 12: China’s ‘Going Out’ Policy And Global Agrarian Change

In this episode we continue our discussion with Yan Hariong, exploring China's 'Going Out policy.' Our guest delves into the intricate linkages between China and other developing countries, highlighting concerns regarding the rebalancing of global geopolitical power. With China's surplus capacity and its reliance on export markets for development, we witness a new geopolitical moment amidst the expansion of the…
PLAAS
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
Global Land Grabbing International Conference FeaturedNews & EventsUncategorized

Global Land Grabbing International Conference

Global Land Grabbing International conference  Conference  I  19-21 March 2024 Bogota  I  Colombia The Land Deal Politics Initiative is reconvening more than a decade on, this time in Bogota. We had our first international conference in 2011, and since then much has happened: meetings, collaborations, publications, training, advocacy, and more research in and on a changing world. This event is a…
jvandieman@plaas.org.za
October 24, 2023
PODCAST Ep 11: Land, labour migration and pathways of change in rural China Agrarian PoliticsNews & EventsNews & Events Featured

PODCAST Ep 11: Land, labour migration and pathways of change in rural China

In one of the biggest rural transformations in world history, China’s land reforms through the twentieth century involved first the redistribution of farmland, then farming cooperatives, and collectivisation of land under the commune system. In this episode, we speak with Prof. Yan Hairong, a scholar on China’s rural transformations. She explains how, in the decades after the revolution, initial freedoms…
PLAAS
October 19, 2023