GDAI Webinar #5 - “A hype, Really?”: A political economy of ‘land grabs’ in Senegal

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

CANCELLED

Dr Rama Salla Dieng (Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh)

On Friday 11th September 2020 – 4pm UK time – Dr Rama Salla Dieng will offer a critical analysis of the political economic context surrounding ‘land rush’ within the Senegalese context.

The 2007/2008 “global land rush” emerged in the turbulent context of socio-economic and political transformations (Edelman et al 2013, Borras et al 2013, Oya 2013, Kaag et al 2014, Dieng 2017).

While the drivers, scale and actors in this renewed interest in land (and labour) are still contested, a body of knowledge interested in its differentiated impact and outcomes (Hall et al 2015) and deeper shifts in labour regimes (Baglioni 2018) and global/local value chains (English 2018) is still growing.

In Senegal, this land rush has taken place in a context of exponential growth of the export Fresh-Foods and Vegetables sector as part of the country’s commitment to agricultural development and food security.

In this webinar, I provide a critical analysis of the political economic context, especially the transition from President Wade’s ‘Sopi’ to President Sall’s ‘Yokkute’ and related shifts in development visions, discourses and policy. I analyse how, with whom and with what consequences the post-2008 land rush took place in Senegal.

I argue that the rush is far from being a ‘hype’ or a phenomenon already fading away by focusing on the current renewed interest in land deals with a ‘newer’ focus on domestic investors as is the case in Ndingler, Le littoral, and many other current cases.

Speaker: Dr Rama Salla Dieng (Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh)

Chair: Prof Carlos Oya (SOAS)

Contact email: am131@soas.ac.uk