Plantation assemblages and spaces of contested development in Sierra Leone and Cambodia | Land Portal

Información del recurso

Date of publication: 
Noviembre 2018
Resource Language: 
Pages: 
521-546
License of the resource: 

Much has been written on land deals, their impact and challenges of contestation in the Global South. Multiple studies show that communities are high-spirited as long as they oppose the actual conversion of their land. My findings illustrate, however, how companies, local authorities, communities, civil society and the government mitigate conflicts, re-shape resource governance, and negotiate terms of development in operating plantations and local-global dynamics thereof. Drawing on extended ethnographic research in Cambodia and Sierra Leone between 2016 and 2018, I examine two plantation assemblages linked in time and across space. Although run by the same company, the different set-ups and sociopolitical contexts have a bearing on community resistance. Based on Nail’s assemblage framework, I start out by defining the territorial assemblages prior to the companies’ arrival. Next, I illustrate the emerging plantation assemblages’ statist and capitalist features with emphasis on the repercussions of monitoring and patronisation dynamics on the communities’ dependency and leverage. Third, I highlight the resulting differences in the communities’ struggles and the potential of emerging alliances, before concluding and reflecting on policy implications.

Autores y editores

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Anne Hennings

Publisher(s): 

Routledge, Global publisher of quality academic books, journals & online reference

Routledge is the world's leading academic publisher in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We publish thousands of books and journals each year, serving scholars, instructors, and professional communities worldwide. Routledge is a member of Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.

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