5th Sam Moyo Pan-African Roundtable Dialogue
Social, Economic and Political Dynamics of Land Reform and Agrarian Conflicts in PostColonial Africa
18-21 September 2017
Introduction
The Archie Mafeje Research Institute (AMRI) at UNISA, South Africa, in collaboration with
Laikipia University, Kenya, Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies (SMAIAS),
Harare, Zimbabwe; African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), Dakar,
Senegal; Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute (TMALI), UNISA, South Africa; Institute of
Global Dialogue (IGD), UNISA, South Africa; Institute of African Renaissance Studies (IARS),
UNISA, South Africa and the UNISA Foundation proposes to host a 5th Sam Moyo Pan
African Roundtable Dialogue on Social, Economic and Political Dynamics of Land Reform
and Agrarian Conflicts in Post-Colonial Africa in Laikipia University, Kenya, in September
2017. This is a follow-up to the 1st Pan-African Roundtable Dialogue on Land Reform, Land
Grabbing and Agricultural Development in Africa in the 21st Century, the 2nd Pan-African
Roundtable Dialogue on Investment or Land Grabbing? The challenges of Agricultural
Production and Food Security in Africa, the 3rd Pan-African Roundtable Dialogue on Land
Policies, Agrarian Conflicts, Agricultural Production, Food Security and Identity Challenges in
Postcolonial Africa and the 4th Sam Moyo Pan-African Roundtable Dialogue on Land Reform
and Agrarian Conflicts in post-colonial Africa: Implications on Agricultural Production,
Industrial Production and Food Security which were held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 7-8 June
2013, Dakar, Senegal, 5-7 November 2014, Harare, Zimbabwe, 21-23 September 2015, and
Pretoria, South Africa, 6-8 September 2016 respectively. This concept note covers a number
of themes that attempt to capture a holistic understanding of the dynamics of land reform
processes and agrarian conflicts. Below is an outline of proposed themes, programming, and
participation.
1. Thematic focus
We propose six broad but interrelated themes to be debated during the 5th Pan-African
Roundtable, namely:
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A. “Land Investments”, Land reforms, Constitutionalism and the Changing Land Governance
Systems in Africa.
This theme seeks to examine the role of the state, state-society relations, and imperialist
strategies that perpetuate conditions that enable the commodification and grabbing of land
in Africa. Can deals on land between African governments and international agencies be
regarded as investment on land or land grabbing? What effects do large-scale land grabbing
(or land investments) have on land policy-making and land reform, including new guidelines
in ‘international’ norms and rule making around land, specifically African initiatives such as
the SADC facility and the African Union land guidelines vis-a-vis external donor driven
initiatives (for example, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), European Union and
World Bank Land Investment guidelines). Papers under this theme could therefore analyse
any of the following issues:
(i)
Mapping and analysis of the evolution of African land policies.
(ii)
Land reforms, from the colonial era through to the current period of
neoliberalism in the post-colonial era.
(iii)
Identify the origins, interests and forces which have shaped current land policies
and laws, and their reform, and what effects and impacts these have had on
socio-economic development.
(iv)
Contested definitions on land: land investments or land grabs?
(v)
Typologies and outcomes of land reforms: Experiences and lessons from
neoliberal (market-based) and radical (expropriatory) land reforms in Africa.
(vi)
Land Restitution challenges
(vii)
New Land questions in Africa
(viii)
Land reforms and food security.
(ix)
Land reforms and conflicts
(x)
Types of Land conflicts in Africa
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(xi)
What types of land and agro-ecological resources (including soils and water) are
being grabbed, and why.
(xii)
Land and the role of religion in influencing equity considerations
B. Land Audits in Africa
Are ‘land audits’ important in these dispensations vis-à-vis accountability, fairness and
transparency in the administration of agricultural land controlled by the state?
(i)
‘Land audits’ and policy making in Africa. Who owns what land now?
(ii)
What kind of information is readily available on African land and
resources? Who collects, owns and manages existing land and related
databases?
(iii)
Media projection of land reform processes.
C. Re-conceptualising the land question in Africa of the 21st century
This theme calls for a re-examination of the theory, concepts, and knowledge about land in
Africa, taking into account the varied expressions of the land question, including indigenous
African conceptions of land and land tenure, settler-colonial/apartheid legacies, as well as
intersections of land with race and autochthony. Papers under this theme could therefore
cover the following issues:
(i)
Understanding the new scramble for African land;
(ii)
Decolonising land;
(iii)
Law and land and the state of research on land.
(iv)
Critically examine varied perspectives, and African thought in particular, on land
and related natural resource rights vis-a-vis the currently dominant
‘humanitarianist’ and market /production oriented perspectives.
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(v)
Land and the Human rights discourse: Whose land? Whose rights? Is access to
land a human right?
D. Economic nationalism, identity, gender and class in land struggles
This theme focuses on examining internal political economy dynamics and imperialist
strategies over the control and use of land and related resources. Historiographical
assessments of the imposition of colonial land tenure systems in relation to indirect and
direct rule are very important in deepening our understanding of the land question. The aim
is to redirect focus on the transformation of class and gender relations embedded in the
control of land as well as theoretical questions regarding capital accumulation (by
dispossession) in the local, continental and global contexts. Papers under this theme could
therefore cover any of the following issues:
(i)
Land and economic nationalism in the 21st century.
(ii)
Land and the national question in former white settler states.
(iii)
Is land reform a social policy transformation tool?
(iv)
Land tenure systems and ownership patterns.
(v)
The scramble for African land; examining who (internal and external) are
involved in land deals; identifying the geo-politics of land commodification
(commercialization) and land grabbing. What kinds of land and resource
movements have emerged over the last two decades, how these become
‘civilized’ by donorism? Is there a ‘re-colonization’ process taking place under
new forms of imperialism?
(vi)
Land and autochthony: Conflicts over land; identity and citizenship; autochthony
and ethno-regionalism. Which people and groups have a ‘right’ to what land?
(vii)
Land, ethnicity and conflicts in Africa
(viii)
Tensions between customary authorities and national governments in land
administration and their impact.
(ix)
Mapping land concentration patterns.
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(x)
Land and gender relations in Africa.
(xi)
African urban land questions
E. Agrarian transformation and food security challenges in Africa
This theme seeks to broaden the debate on land reform to include agrarian transformation
and food security in Africa and Africa’s various agricultural ‘deficits’, that is, by focusing on
ways that seek to address low productivity, exploring long term historical challenges and
future of the agrarian transformation in the context of changing world markets and geopolitical shifts. Papers under this theme could therefore analyse the following issues:
(i)
The changing nature of and outcomes (success and failure) of African agricultural
policies under different economic policy regimes, (dirigiste, SAPs, and so on).
(ii)
Agricultural trade; finance and subsidies.
(iii)
Agricultural research and technology development, including GMOs).
(iv)
Food security and climate change in Africa.
(v)
The role of the AU and regional economic communities in promoting agricultural
change, including through NEPAD (CAADAP), and their involvement in donor aid
and agri-business driven programmes (such as the AGRA, USAID).
(vi)
The changing nature of food and humanitarian aid, and its influences on
agriculture and food policies, and donor-dependency.
(vii)
The expanded penetration and impacts of agribusiness monopolies (in African
inputs, food and agricultural commodity markets), on African agricultural policy
and food security.
(viii)
To what extent are trans-country investments promoting mutually beneficial
integration?
(ix)
Agrarian change in the Global South and its implications for Africa.
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(x)
Regional integration through agrarian transformation: The role and strategies of
pan-African integration through the transformation of agriculture and land
relations.
F. Agriculture and Industrial production in Africa
As most African economies are still agrarian and rural, papers under this theme could
strive to:
(i)
Analyse the interface of agriculture, industrialization and the economy in Africa.
(ii)
Analyse the state of agriculture and industrialization in Africa.
(iii)
Consider whether or not is there a possibility that agriculture can play a
significant role in the industrialisation of Africa? If so, how?
We therefore expect article contributions of between 6000-8000 words in line with the
themes proposed above.
Timelines: (i). Abstracts: 30 April 2017. (ii). Draft Papers: 01 September 2017.
Roundtable Dialogue: 18-21 September 2017
(iii).
General conditions
No per diem allowance will be paid. The final version of the accepted papers will be
considered for publication in an edited volume at a later date.
Guidelines
Abstracts will be reviewed by a Review Panel and those which meet the review criteria will
be selected.
Please send the abstracts and draft papers to the following:
Dr. Busani Mpofu- [email protected]
Ms Badumisile Hlongwane – [email protected]
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