Contemporary land rush, and dynamics of agrarian change in Senegal (2006-2017)

This thesis critically examines the political economy of the post-2006 land rush in the regions of Saint-Louis and Louga, in the Delta and the Valley of River Senegal. Through a comparative case-study approach, and a feminist lens, it investigates the following questions: i) How and why did the land rush take place in Northern Senegal’s horticultural sector? ii) What are the roles of the different stakeholders at different levels? iii) What are the differentiated outcomes of interactions between “emerging” and “old” classes of capital and labour in this context? Drawing on my own original data – collected over 2 years through my multi-methodological approach including 7 months of immersive fieldwork in villages in Northern Senegal and visits to UK branches of the three selected companies - I investigate the global-local dynamics of agrarian change in northern Senegal. I do so with a longue durée approach to understand what yesteryear processes have sedimented to engender the contemporary land rush, and with what consequences. I argue that workers are not being exploited in a vacuum, and challenge constructions of a genderless, undifferentiated “local community” that falls prey to an “undifferentiated capital”. Rather, I unpack the multidimensional outcomes that have occurred in the decade following the land rush by focusing on social differentiation from below (workers or classes of labour), from above (classes of capital), and on the wider Anthropocene beyond markets. This leads me to conclude that the post-2006 land rush in the Senegalese agricultural sector has exacerbated the pre-existing dynamics of agrarian change. The main contribution of this thesis is that it is one of the first pieces of research to provide empirical evidence on what happens “beyond the hype” of land deals in Francophone West Africa with empirical evidence from private investors, political and traditional leaders, and different relevant social groups

"Land Grabbing" and the Politics of Evidence: The case of Senegal

The renewed interest in land, especially after the 2007-2008 global financial crises, has led to land being viewed as a new strategic asset. The drivers of this rush, sometimes referred to as ‘land grabs’, are contested, as are its actors and scale, creating a fierce debate between activists, academics and politicians. This battlefield of competing claims on methods and evidence sometimes espouse the blurred lines of ‘North’ and ‘South’. In this context, assessing the available literature is a difficult but critical step if the current knowledge-building efforts are to be sustained. This paper argues that what is known about ‘land grabs’ is the outcome of how it is known. To ascertain this, this paper firstly seeks to review the existing body of knowledge and then questions the politics of methods to understand why not much is known, using evidence from Senega

Book Review: Ndèye Sokhna Guèye (Ed.) (2015), Mouvements sociaux des femmes au Sénégal

Ndèye Sokhna Guèye (Ed.) (2015), Mouvements sociaux des femmes au Sénégal [Women’s social movements in Senegal]. Dakar: CODESRIA. ISBN 978-2-86978-634-9, pp. 188

Centering Feminists and Feminism in Protests in Africa

First paragraph: In recent years, struggles for justice, peace, and democracy around the world have been articulated through protests. Whether in Iran, Nigeria, Poland, Senegal, Tunisia, or the United States, this form of political participation challenges the status quo. Rising forms of autocratic rule, democratic backsliding, and right-wing populism underscore the urgency of protesters’ demands. Often overlooked in mainstream accounts, however, is the role of feminists in driving forward liberatory demands for new social contracts (Sen and Durano 2014). One recent example of this is the role that the Feminist Coalition played in the Nigerian #EndSARS protests, mobilizing against years of police brutality and impunity (Nwakanma 2022). Confronted with physical harm and even death, these feminists and their fellow protesters have strategized and theorized a vision for a better world (Nazneen and Okech 2021; Tamale 2020).Output Status: Forthcomin

Centering Feminists and Feminism in Protests in Africa

First paragraph: In recent years, struggles for justice, peace, and democracy around the world have been articulated through protests. Whether in Iran, Nigeria, Poland, Senegal, Tunisia, or the United States, this form of political participation challenges the status quo. Rising forms of autocratic rule, democratic backsliding, and right-wing populism underscore the urgency of protesters’ demands. Often overlooked in mainstream accounts, however, is the role of feminists in driving forward liberatory demands for new social contracts (Sen and Durano 2014). One recent example of this is the role that the Feminist Coalition played in the Nigerian #EndSARS protests, mobilizing against years of police brutality and impunity (Nwakanma 2022). Confronted with physical harm and even death, these feminists and their fellow protesters have strategized and theorized a vision for a better world (Nazneen and Okech 2021; Tamale 2020)