Socioecological Relations in Land Politics

Abstract

Abstract A political economy/ecology approach has been at the center of the critical scholarship on land politics. Given the multiple material and social dimensions of land, an analysis that accords attention to human and more-than-human relationalities would enrich positive and normative scholarly commitments to unpack the complexities of land politics. This chapter advocates for an assemblage perspective in land politics. An assemblage perspective would add layers of explanation and nuance to the political-economy dynamics of land issues, such as commodification, accumulation, adverse incorporation, social differentiation and marginalization, exclusion, and resistance. Moreover, an assemblage perspective could reveal emergent relations that expose fissures in structures of dominance, offering ways for us to (re)imagine emancipatory land politics.