Il pensamiento ecologista latinoamericano. Crisi ecologica, cure e resistenze (Intervista con Mar... more Il pensamiento ecologista latinoamericano. Crisi ecologica, cure e resistenze (Intervista con Maristella Svampa ed Enrique Leff a cura di Maura Benegiamo e Salvo Torre)
In this introduction to the special issue of Sociologia del lavoro, devoted to labour transformat... more In this introduction to the special issue of Sociologia del lavoro, devoted to labour transformations and welfare policies in the context of the ecological crisis, the authors review the state of the debate, focusing on three emerging concepts: climate justice, just transition and sustainable welfare. They provide an analysis of the academic and non-academic contexts in which these concepts have emerged and the kinds of programmatic questions that they raise for the study of labour transformations, social movements and welfare policies. After discussing how the collected contributions operationalise the three concepts in different empirical and research contexts, the article outlines some critical gaps that warrant being addressed or explored further and propose a few methodological and analytical pointers that are useful for the continuation of the debate and, thus, the growth of a field of analysis that is destined to occupy a major space in the sociology of labour.
A green economy failure? Italian investors in Senegal between green grabbing and development prom... more A green economy failure? Italian investors in Senegal between green grabbing and development promises The article draws on land and green grabbing debate to critically interrogates the failure of eight Italian investment in agrofuel production in Senegal. It focuses on the characteristics of the Italian investors who were drawn to agro-energy production and of the incentives structures that motivated them. Once on site, multiple management problems and conflicts with the local population arose. The article argues that this is not solely attributable to a lack of responsibility, bad governance and ethics of individual firms: the green economy and its speculative arrangements must be considered.
A área de debate que se pode definir como pensamento decolonial começa a obter certo reconhecimen... more A área de debate que se pode definir como pensamento decolonial começa a obter certo reconhecimento internacional. É construída como um diálogo original a respeito do problema da relação entre poder, modernidade e capitalismo, desenvolvida dentro do debate latino-americano, mas destinada a oferecer um quadro de análise inovador sobre a história mundial e os processos de globalização. O artigo apresenta, antes de mais nada, uma síntese de algumas categorias centrais surgidas neste contexto a partir da década de 1980 e que são sucessivamente caracterizadas como crítica à colonialidad del poder. Em seguida, aborda a questão das indicações de método que o pensamento decolonial pode oferecer para as ciências sociais, partindo das primeiras experiências de história oral à organização do grupo Modernidad/racionalidad. O artigo questiona a possibilidade de reproduzir os métodos da pesquisa decolonial como oportunidade de repensar as modalidades de produção do saber a nível global. Decoloniz...
Conceptualizing global floriculture as a commodity frontier, this article explores rural-urban tr... more Conceptualizing global floriculture as a commodity frontier, this article explores rural-urban transfers and in loco production and exchange of food by migrant workers at Naivasha flower farms in Kenya. It highlights how food procurement strategies are central to the reproduction of a cheap labour force and are supported by multi-local family networks. Distant livelihoods and rural ecologies are thus tied to the frontier's interests and are embedded into global chains of cut flowers. We argue that considering reproductive labour strategies is critical to understand the functioning and expansion of commodity frontiers and their impact on peasant families and food circulation.
The article examines the reactions of two important agricultural trade unions in France, the Conf... more The article examines the reactions of two important agricultural trade unions in France, the Confédération Paysanne and the Coordination Rurale, to the liberalisation and financialisation of the European Common Agricultural Policy. It highlights the adoption of a "producerist populism" approach focused on the role of transnational economic and financial elites in co-opting the state, reducing public aid and as the main driver of the economic crises experienced by French farmers. The article traces the manifestations of this approach in the claims and analyses of the two unions in the face of recent economic developments in the wheat and dairy sectors in France. It argues that the producerist understanding of the crises in agriculture leads these two farmers unions, from opposite political backgrounds, to develop common arguments, opening to strategic alliances. Finally, based on the current debate on authoritarian populism in rural areas, the article discusses the interest in overcoming these narratives in favour of a more emancipatory rural perspective.
Handbook on Environmental Labour Studies / Eds. Nora Räthzel, Dimitris Stevis and David Uzzell (London: Palgrave Macmillan), 2021
This chapter critically reviews André Gorz's thought, in particular his labour-based political ec... more This chapter critically reviews André Gorz's thought, in particular his labour-based political ecology, to argue that it belongs within Environmental Labour Studies as a cutting-edge field of inquiry. Based on Gorz's theoretical toolkit, it discusses the historical transformation of the link between capitalist development, natural environment and working-class struggles. In particular, the chapter focuses on Gorz's analysis of the ecological crisis as a crisis of capitalist reproduction, whose implications are relevant for a critical understanding of the post-Fordist mode of accumulation. To grasp the ecological dimension of contemporary valorisation-that is, to analyse how physical limits to growth are turned from obstacles to drivers of accumulation-the conclusions intermingle Gorz's insights with recent debates on biocapitalism, drawing especially on Melinda Cooper's contributions.
The chapter develops in three parts. It firstly provides a review of the evolution of dominant de... more The chapter develops in three parts. It firstly provides a review of the evolution of dominant developmental approaches to food and agriculture and discusses the main concepts, elaborated at both academic and militant levels, which inform the critical debate on agrarian development and its political ecology. It then focuses on the current phase of agrarian development policies and highlights some of the main contentious issues arising from it. It deals in particular with the reorganisation dynamics of global capitalism after the 2008 crises, the role of arable land, bio-regeneration processes and the economics of data in agriculture. Reflecting on political ecology, labour transformations and struggles engendered by these processes, the last section suggests the interest for future research in shifting the critical gaze from a production-based understanding of agro-capitalism to one more attentive to transformation in the field of socio-ecological reproduction.
This chapter critically reviews André Gorz’s thinking, in particular his labour-based political e... more This chapter critically reviews André Gorz’s thinking, in particular his labour-based political ecology, to argue that it belongs within environmental labour studies as a cutting-edge field of inquiry. Based on Gorz’s theoretical toolkit, it discusses the historical transformation of the link between capitalist development, natural environment and working-class struggles. In particular, the chapter focuses on Gorz’s analysis of the ecological crisis as a crisis of capitalist reproduction, whose implications are relevant for a critical understanding of the post-Fordist mode of accumulation. To grasp the ecological dimension of contemporary valorisation—that is, to analyse how physical limits to growth are turned from obstacles to drivers of accumulation—the conclusion connects Gorz’s insights with recent debates on biocapitalism, drawing especially on Melinda Cooper’s contributions.
This chapter interrogates the evolving relations between capital and nature to grasp the trans... more This chapter interrogates the evolving relations between capital and nature to grasp the transformations of capitalist accumulation in the context of the global climate crisis. It addresses these issues by examining the political ecology and labour implications of agrarian development trajectories in the context of the New Green Revolution for Africa understood as a particular field of experimentation for new production paradigms, such as climate-smart agriculture, green economy and bio-economy. The aforementioned paradigms reflect the furthering of nature industrialisation, where new processes of commodification, exploitation and appropriation are at stake, marked by the establishment of a bio-capitalistic mode of production. The chapter argues that these processes bear witness to a broader transformation of global capitalism marked by the reorganisation of the boundaries between productive and reproductive value, the strengthening of the colonial extractivist model and a further casualisation of rural labour driven by financialisation, indebtedness and bio-labour. Following this, in the conclusions, the chapter also proposes some insights for a re-actualisation of Marx’s labour theory of value under bio-capitalist accumulation.
Que cela implique-t-il d’analyser l’urgence sanitaire actuelle à travers le prisme de l’écologie ... more Que cela implique-t-il d’analyser l’urgence sanitaire actuelle à travers le prisme de l’écologie politique, et quel en est l’intérêt ? Selon Maura Benegiamo, qui prolonge ici une réflexion qu’elle avait commencée lors du premier confinement au printemps 2020 [1], la réponse à cette double question tourne autour de la notion de crise, de la manière dont l’écologie politique a appréhendé les crises du capital et de la critique anti-systémique spécifique qui en est issue. Les corrélations entre crises sanitaires et dégradations écosystémiques fournissent un complément à l’analyse qui dessine une autre correspondance, plus générale et propre au néolibéralisme, celle qui associe la « normalité » de la crise capitaliste à la prise en compte ordinaire du risque et de l’urgence de plus en plus banalisée.
In the last two decades, the promotion of agro-industry has become a dominant developmental imper... more In the last two decades, the promotion of agro-industry has become a dominant developmental imperative on the African continent, leading to efforts to involve private-sector actors. This article examines the political economy and ecology of agro-industry in the Senegal River delta, focusing on local-level reactions to Senegalese initiatives aimed at attracting foreign investors in agriculture. The argument is that Senegal is witnessing the emergence of an agro-extractivist pattern that replaces earlier development objectives – such as peasants’ integration into the national economy – with the new imperative of the integration of territories into global capitalism. The article presents empirical evidence on three main consequences of the increased presence of agro-industry: a process of change in land property and access; the end of public support to peasant farmers; and an intensified marginalisation of pastoralism. Colonial heritage and the role of local resistances in shaping and mediating this developmental strategy are also discussed.
The end of the Washington Consensus coincided with the start of a new development phase driven by... more The end of the Washington Consensus coincided with the start of a new development phase driven by the African rising narrative. In Senegal, this resulted in a relaunch of the agrarian development policies, marked by a rise in large-scale land deals. This paper examines the governance of an agro-industrial investment in the Senegal River Delta region foreseeing the cession of 20 000 hectares of grazing land, and the ensuing conflict with the local population. It focuses on land governance procedures that underpin the investment and on the formal and informal, public and private forms of regulation that accompany its establishment and the management of the relations with the populations affected by the project. It highlights the strategic articulation between state action and neo-liberal governance in the reorganisation of the relations between territories, rights and inhabitants, continuing the process of agricultural colonisation of the delta. These dynamics, it is argued, reflect the neo-liberal transformation of the’development state’ while undermining the possibility for local populations of participating in development processes concerning their territories.
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La fin du Consensus de Washington a coïncidé avec le démarrage d’une nouvelle phase de développement impulsée par l’idée de l’émergence africaine. Au Sénégal, cela s’est traduit par la relance des politiques de développement agricole, marquée par une augmentation des investissements fonciers à grande échelle. Cette étude se fonde sur l’analyse de la gestion d’un investissement agro-industriel dans la région du delta du fleuve Sénégal qui a entraîné le transfert de 20 000 hectares de terres pastorales et du conflit qui s’est ensuivi avec les populations locales. Elle accorde une attention particulière aux procédures de gouvernance foncière qui sous-tendent l’investissement, aux formes de régulation formelles et informelles, publiques et privées qui accompagnent sa mise en place, ainsi qu’à la gestion des relations avec les populations affectées par le projet. Elle met en évidence l’articulation stratégique entre action étatique et gouvernance néolibérale dans la réorganisation des relations entre territoires, droits et habitants, qui poursuit l’avancement de la colonisation agricole du delta. Ces dynamiques reflètent la transformation néolibérale de l’« État du développement » et minent la possibilité de participation des populations locales dans les processus de développement portant sur leurs territoires.
The recent debate on agricultural development revolves around two main models, whose relevance ex... more The recent debate on agricultural development revolves around two main models, whose relevance extends from the theoretical to the political level and which support the industrialization of production or smallscale agriculture as a key to food sovereignty and sustainability. This work contributes to this debate by building on a study conducted in Kenya on grassroots collective action in rural areas conducted by small farmers. After an overview of the relevant literature, the coordinates and main findings of the study are presented and their implications for the interpretation of today’s agricultural issue are discussed. Particularly, the three case histories provided confirm the interest of small farmers in an agroecological transition to strengthen their autonomy as producers and improve their ability to cope with environmental and economic risks. These experiences, it is argued, offer a viable alternative to technology-driven top-down development programmes focused on improving the competitiveness and integration of small farmers into global markets.
L'area di dibattito che si può definire pensiero decoloniale inizia ad avere un certo riconoscime... more L'area di dibattito che si può definire pensiero decoloniale inizia ad avere un certo riconoscimento internazionale. Si è costruita come un dialogo originale sul problema della relazione tra potere, modernità e capitalismo, sviluppatasi in seno al dibattito latinoamericano, ma destinata ad offrire un quadro di analisi innovativo sulla storia mondiale ed i processi di globalizzazione. L'articolo presenta innanzitutto una sintesi di alcune categorie centrali emerse in questo contesto a partire dagli anni Ottanta del Novecento e che si sono successivamente caratterizzate come critica alla colonialidad del poder. In seguito affronta la questione delle indicazioni di metodo che il pensiero decoloniale può offrire per le scienze sociali, partendo dalle prime esperienze di storia orale fino all'organizzazione del gruppo Modernidad/racionalidad. L'articolo si interroga sulla possibilità di riprodurre i metodi della ricerca decoloniale quale opportunità di ripensare le modalità di produzione del sapere a livello globale. Decolonizzare gli studi implica infatti non solo una riconsiderazione profonda delle modalità con cui i modelli di dominio coloniale hanno sostenuto diversi campi del sapere scientifico, ma anche una necessaria ridiscussione delle soggettività coinvolte nella ricerca e nella costruzione generale di un sapere decolonizzato.
L’écologie politique italienne est aujourd’hui un espace de mobilisation et de réflexion politiqu... more L’écologie politique italienne est aujourd’hui un espace de mobilisation et de réflexion politique qui offre la possibilité de faire un retour sur l’histoire des mouvements sociaux depuis la seconde moitié du 20e siècle. Les auteurs inscrivent les récentes mobilisations contre des grands ouvrages et pour la justice climatique dans la continuité – plutôt que dans la rupture – avec la longue histoire du mouvement ouvrier italien et de ses luttes contre la nocivité sur les lieux de travail. Cet héritage a été visible dans les mobilisations contre le nucléaire et dans celle altermondialiste qui s’est dressée contre le G8 à Gênes en 2001, centrées sur la critique du progrès et de la modernisation. À travers cette reconstruction, il apparaît que la critique féministe et post-coloniale ont été un apport majeur pour l’élaboration théorique de ces mouvements. Elles s’articulent avec de nouvelles revendications et de nouvelles formes de critique du système qui prolongent le débat marxiste et opéraïste tout en mettant au centre la question de la reproduction et du conflit entre le capitalisme et le vivant.
This paper aims to integrate the socio-ecological critique of capitalist valorization with some i... more This paper aims to integrate the socio-ecological critique of capitalist valorization with some indications developed in the post-colonial debate and the neo-materialist perspectives. It builds on an analysis of the land grab phenomena and its connections with recent agricultural development policies, involving green and bio-economy promotion in Sub-Saharan Africa. It firstly expands on the relationships between the neoliberal ecological regime and the racialized pattern of colonial appropriation that inform current agrarian governance processes. Then, re-calling the results of a case study on a land-deal conflict in the north of Senegal, it discusses the interest of a political ecology approach focused on a post-colonial reading of world-ecology, able to include in the narrative of capitalocene the alternative and subaltern socio-ecological stories that inhabit it. This, it will be argued, offers a useful perspective to re-imagine socio-ecological transition as a plural and more-than-human process.
Keywords: Anthropocene, agrarian question, new-materialism, land grabbing, pastoralism, Senegal
Il pensamiento ecologista latinoamericano. Crisi ecologica, cure e resistenze (Intervista con Mar... more Il pensamiento ecologista latinoamericano. Crisi ecologica, cure e resistenze (Intervista con Maristella Svampa ed Enrique Leff a cura di Maura Benegiamo e Salvo Torre)
In this introduction to the special issue of Sociologia del lavoro, devoted to labour transformat... more In this introduction to the special issue of Sociologia del lavoro, devoted to labour transformations and welfare policies in the context of the ecological crisis, the authors review the state of the debate, focusing on three emerging concepts: climate justice, just transition and sustainable welfare. They provide an analysis of the academic and non-academic contexts in which these concepts have emerged and the kinds of programmatic questions that they raise for the study of labour transformations, social movements and welfare policies. After discussing how the collected contributions operationalise the three concepts in different empirical and research contexts, the article outlines some critical gaps that warrant being addressed or explored further and propose a few methodological and analytical pointers that are useful for the continuation of the debate and, thus, the growth of a field of analysis that is destined to occupy a major space in the sociology of labour.
A green economy failure? Italian investors in Senegal between green grabbing and development prom... more A green economy failure? Italian investors in Senegal between green grabbing and development promises The article draws on land and green grabbing debate to critically interrogates the failure of eight Italian investment in agrofuel production in Senegal. It focuses on the characteristics of the Italian investors who were drawn to agro-energy production and of the incentives structures that motivated them. Once on site, multiple management problems and conflicts with the local population arose. The article argues that this is not solely attributable to a lack of responsibility, bad governance and ethics of individual firms: the green economy and its speculative arrangements must be considered.
A área de debate que se pode definir como pensamento decolonial começa a obter certo reconhecimen... more A área de debate que se pode definir como pensamento decolonial começa a obter certo reconhecimento internacional. É construída como um diálogo original a respeito do problema da relação entre poder, modernidade e capitalismo, desenvolvida dentro do debate latino-americano, mas destinada a oferecer um quadro de análise inovador sobre a história mundial e os processos de globalização. O artigo apresenta, antes de mais nada, uma síntese de algumas categorias centrais surgidas neste contexto a partir da década de 1980 e que são sucessivamente caracterizadas como crítica à colonialidad del poder. Em seguida, aborda a questão das indicações de método que o pensamento decolonial pode oferecer para as ciências sociais, partindo das primeiras experiências de história oral à organização do grupo Modernidad/racionalidad. O artigo questiona a possibilidade de reproduzir os métodos da pesquisa decolonial como oportunidade de repensar as modalidades de produção do saber a nível global. Decoloniz...
Conceptualizing global floriculture as a commodity frontier, this article explores rural-urban tr... more Conceptualizing global floriculture as a commodity frontier, this article explores rural-urban transfers and in loco production and exchange of food by migrant workers at Naivasha flower farms in Kenya. It highlights how food procurement strategies are central to the reproduction of a cheap labour force and are supported by multi-local family networks. Distant livelihoods and rural ecologies are thus tied to the frontier's interests and are embedded into global chains of cut flowers. We argue that considering reproductive labour strategies is critical to understand the functioning and expansion of commodity frontiers and their impact on peasant families and food circulation.
The article examines the reactions of two important agricultural trade unions in France, the Conf... more The article examines the reactions of two important agricultural trade unions in France, the Confédération Paysanne and the Coordination Rurale, to the liberalisation and financialisation of the European Common Agricultural Policy. It highlights the adoption of a "producerist populism" approach focused on the role of transnational economic and financial elites in co-opting the state, reducing public aid and as the main driver of the economic crises experienced by French farmers. The article traces the manifestations of this approach in the claims and analyses of the two unions in the face of recent economic developments in the wheat and dairy sectors in France. It argues that the producerist understanding of the crises in agriculture leads these two farmers unions, from opposite political backgrounds, to develop common arguments, opening to strategic alliances. Finally, based on the current debate on authoritarian populism in rural areas, the article discusses the interest in overcoming these narratives in favour of a more emancipatory rural perspective.
Handbook on Environmental Labour Studies / Eds. Nora Räthzel, Dimitris Stevis and David Uzzell (London: Palgrave Macmillan), 2021
This chapter critically reviews André Gorz's thought, in particular his labour-based political ec... more This chapter critically reviews André Gorz's thought, in particular his labour-based political ecology, to argue that it belongs within Environmental Labour Studies as a cutting-edge field of inquiry. Based on Gorz's theoretical toolkit, it discusses the historical transformation of the link between capitalist development, natural environment and working-class struggles. In particular, the chapter focuses on Gorz's analysis of the ecological crisis as a crisis of capitalist reproduction, whose implications are relevant for a critical understanding of the post-Fordist mode of accumulation. To grasp the ecological dimension of contemporary valorisation-that is, to analyse how physical limits to growth are turned from obstacles to drivers of accumulation-the conclusions intermingle Gorz's insights with recent debates on biocapitalism, drawing especially on Melinda Cooper's contributions.
The chapter develops in three parts. It firstly provides a review of the evolution of dominant de... more The chapter develops in three parts. It firstly provides a review of the evolution of dominant developmental approaches to food and agriculture and discusses the main concepts, elaborated at both academic and militant levels, which inform the critical debate on agrarian development and its political ecology. It then focuses on the current phase of agrarian development policies and highlights some of the main contentious issues arising from it. It deals in particular with the reorganisation dynamics of global capitalism after the 2008 crises, the role of arable land, bio-regeneration processes and the economics of data in agriculture. Reflecting on political ecology, labour transformations and struggles engendered by these processes, the last section suggests the interest for future research in shifting the critical gaze from a production-based understanding of agro-capitalism to one more attentive to transformation in the field of socio-ecological reproduction.
This chapter critically reviews André Gorz’s thinking, in particular his labour-based political e... more This chapter critically reviews André Gorz’s thinking, in particular his labour-based political ecology, to argue that it belongs within environmental labour studies as a cutting-edge field of inquiry. Based on Gorz’s theoretical toolkit, it discusses the historical transformation of the link between capitalist development, natural environment and working-class struggles. In particular, the chapter focuses on Gorz’s analysis of the ecological crisis as a crisis of capitalist reproduction, whose implications are relevant for a critical understanding of the post-Fordist mode of accumulation. To grasp the ecological dimension of contemporary valorisation—that is, to analyse how physical limits to growth are turned from obstacles to drivers of accumulation—the conclusion connects Gorz’s insights with recent debates on biocapitalism, drawing especially on Melinda Cooper’s contributions.
This chapter interrogates the evolving relations between capital and nature to grasp the trans... more This chapter interrogates the evolving relations between capital and nature to grasp the transformations of capitalist accumulation in the context of the global climate crisis. It addresses these issues by examining the political ecology and labour implications of agrarian development trajectories in the context of the New Green Revolution for Africa understood as a particular field of experimentation for new production paradigms, such as climate-smart agriculture, green economy and bio-economy. The aforementioned paradigms reflect the furthering of nature industrialisation, where new processes of commodification, exploitation and appropriation are at stake, marked by the establishment of a bio-capitalistic mode of production. The chapter argues that these processes bear witness to a broader transformation of global capitalism marked by the reorganisation of the boundaries between productive and reproductive value, the strengthening of the colonial extractivist model and a further casualisation of rural labour driven by financialisation, indebtedness and bio-labour. Following this, in the conclusions, the chapter also proposes some insights for a re-actualisation of Marx’s labour theory of value under bio-capitalist accumulation.
Que cela implique-t-il d’analyser l’urgence sanitaire actuelle à travers le prisme de l’écologie ... more Que cela implique-t-il d’analyser l’urgence sanitaire actuelle à travers le prisme de l’écologie politique, et quel en est l’intérêt ? Selon Maura Benegiamo, qui prolonge ici une réflexion qu’elle avait commencée lors du premier confinement au printemps 2020 [1], la réponse à cette double question tourne autour de la notion de crise, de la manière dont l’écologie politique a appréhendé les crises du capital et de la critique anti-systémique spécifique qui en est issue. Les corrélations entre crises sanitaires et dégradations écosystémiques fournissent un complément à l’analyse qui dessine une autre correspondance, plus générale et propre au néolibéralisme, celle qui associe la « normalité » de la crise capitaliste à la prise en compte ordinaire du risque et de l’urgence de plus en plus banalisée.
In the last two decades, the promotion of agro-industry has become a dominant developmental imper... more In the last two decades, the promotion of agro-industry has become a dominant developmental imperative on the African continent, leading to efforts to involve private-sector actors. This article examines the political economy and ecology of agro-industry in the Senegal River delta, focusing on local-level reactions to Senegalese initiatives aimed at attracting foreign investors in agriculture. The argument is that Senegal is witnessing the emergence of an agro-extractivist pattern that replaces earlier development objectives – such as peasants’ integration into the national economy – with the new imperative of the integration of territories into global capitalism. The article presents empirical evidence on three main consequences of the increased presence of agro-industry: a process of change in land property and access; the end of public support to peasant farmers; and an intensified marginalisation of pastoralism. Colonial heritage and the role of local resistances in shaping and mediating this developmental strategy are also discussed.
The end of the Washington Consensus coincided with the start of a new development phase driven by... more The end of the Washington Consensus coincided with the start of a new development phase driven by the African rising narrative. In Senegal, this resulted in a relaunch of the agrarian development policies, marked by a rise in large-scale land deals. This paper examines the governance of an agro-industrial investment in the Senegal River Delta region foreseeing the cession of 20 000 hectares of grazing land, and the ensuing conflict with the local population. It focuses on land governance procedures that underpin the investment and on the formal and informal, public and private forms of regulation that accompany its establishment and the management of the relations with the populations affected by the project. It highlights the strategic articulation between state action and neo-liberal governance in the reorganisation of the relations between territories, rights and inhabitants, continuing the process of agricultural colonisation of the delta. These dynamics, it is argued, reflect the neo-liberal transformation of the’development state’ while undermining the possibility for local populations of participating in development processes concerning their territories.
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La fin du Consensus de Washington a coïncidé avec le démarrage d’une nouvelle phase de développement impulsée par l’idée de l’émergence africaine. Au Sénégal, cela s’est traduit par la relance des politiques de développement agricole, marquée par une augmentation des investissements fonciers à grande échelle. Cette étude se fonde sur l’analyse de la gestion d’un investissement agro-industriel dans la région du delta du fleuve Sénégal qui a entraîné le transfert de 20 000 hectares de terres pastorales et du conflit qui s’est ensuivi avec les populations locales. Elle accorde une attention particulière aux procédures de gouvernance foncière qui sous-tendent l’investissement, aux formes de régulation formelles et informelles, publiques et privées qui accompagnent sa mise en place, ainsi qu’à la gestion des relations avec les populations affectées par le projet. Elle met en évidence l’articulation stratégique entre action étatique et gouvernance néolibérale dans la réorganisation des relations entre territoires, droits et habitants, qui poursuit l’avancement de la colonisation agricole du delta. Ces dynamiques reflètent la transformation néolibérale de l’« État du développement » et minent la possibilité de participation des populations locales dans les processus de développement portant sur leurs territoires.
The recent debate on agricultural development revolves around two main models, whose relevance ex... more The recent debate on agricultural development revolves around two main models, whose relevance extends from the theoretical to the political level and which support the industrialization of production or smallscale agriculture as a key to food sovereignty and sustainability. This work contributes to this debate by building on a study conducted in Kenya on grassroots collective action in rural areas conducted by small farmers. After an overview of the relevant literature, the coordinates and main findings of the study are presented and their implications for the interpretation of today’s agricultural issue are discussed. Particularly, the three case histories provided confirm the interest of small farmers in an agroecological transition to strengthen their autonomy as producers and improve their ability to cope with environmental and economic risks. These experiences, it is argued, offer a viable alternative to technology-driven top-down development programmes focused on improving the competitiveness and integration of small farmers into global markets.
L'area di dibattito che si può definire pensiero decoloniale inizia ad avere un certo riconoscime... more L'area di dibattito che si può definire pensiero decoloniale inizia ad avere un certo riconoscimento internazionale. Si è costruita come un dialogo originale sul problema della relazione tra potere, modernità e capitalismo, sviluppatasi in seno al dibattito latinoamericano, ma destinata ad offrire un quadro di analisi innovativo sulla storia mondiale ed i processi di globalizzazione. L'articolo presenta innanzitutto una sintesi di alcune categorie centrali emerse in questo contesto a partire dagli anni Ottanta del Novecento e che si sono successivamente caratterizzate come critica alla colonialidad del poder. In seguito affronta la questione delle indicazioni di metodo che il pensiero decoloniale può offrire per le scienze sociali, partendo dalle prime esperienze di storia orale fino all'organizzazione del gruppo Modernidad/racionalidad. L'articolo si interroga sulla possibilità di riprodurre i metodi della ricerca decoloniale quale opportunità di ripensare le modalità di produzione del sapere a livello globale. Decolonizzare gli studi implica infatti non solo una riconsiderazione profonda delle modalità con cui i modelli di dominio coloniale hanno sostenuto diversi campi del sapere scientifico, ma anche una necessaria ridiscussione delle soggettività coinvolte nella ricerca e nella costruzione generale di un sapere decolonizzato.
L’écologie politique italienne est aujourd’hui un espace de mobilisation et de réflexion politiqu... more L’écologie politique italienne est aujourd’hui un espace de mobilisation et de réflexion politique qui offre la possibilité de faire un retour sur l’histoire des mouvements sociaux depuis la seconde moitié du 20e siècle. Les auteurs inscrivent les récentes mobilisations contre des grands ouvrages et pour la justice climatique dans la continuité – plutôt que dans la rupture – avec la longue histoire du mouvement ouvrier italien et de ses luttes contre la nocivité sur les lieux de travail. Cet héritage a été visible dans les mobilisations contre le nucléaire et dans celle altermondialiste qui s’est dressée contre le G8 à Gênes en 2001, centrées sur la critique du progrès et de la modernisation. À travers cette reconstruction, il apparaît que la critique féministe et post-coloniale ont été un apport majeur pour l’élaboration théorique de ces mouvements. Elles s’articulent avec de nouvelles revendications et de nouvelles formes de critique du système qui prolongent le débat marxiste et opéraïste tout en mettant au centre la question de la reproduction et du conflit entre le capitalisme et le vivant.
This paper aims to integrate the socio-ecological critique of capitalist valorization with some i... more This paper aims to integrate the socio-ecological critique of capitalist valorization with some indications developed in the post-colonial debate and the neo-materialist perspectives. It builds on an analysis of the land grab phenomena and its connections with recent agricultural development policies, involving green and bio-economy promotion in Sub-Saharan Africa. It firstly expands on the relationships between the neoliberal ecological regime and the racialized pattern of colonial appropriation that inform current agrarian governance processes. Then, re-calling the results of a case study on a land-deal conflict in the north of Senegal, it discusses the interest of a political ecology approach focused on a post-colonial reading of world-ecology, able to include in the narrative of capitalocene the alternative and subaltern socio-ecological stories that inhabit it. This, it will be argued, offers a useful perspective to re-imagine socio-ecological transition as a plural and more-than-human process.
Keywords: Anthropocene, agrarian question, new-materialism, land grabbing, pastoralism, Senegal
Available in Italian and French:
Il rapporto è stato scritto da ricercatori, giornalisti e attiv... more Available in Italian and French:
Il rapporto è stato scritto da ricercatori, giornalisti e attivisti italiani e successivamente pubblicato dai seguenti gruppi italiani, senegalesi e internazionali che da anni lavorano assieme per dimostrare che il progetto Senhuile è dannoso e illegittimo: Re:Common, in collaborazione con il Collectif pour la Défense du Ndiaël, GRAIN, l’Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), l’associazione SUNUGAL, e il collettivo WOTS?.
Il fascicolo dimostra che il controverso progetto di agribusiness dell’azienda senegalese Senhuile continua essere al centro di un conflitto e non accenna a placare la divisione sociale ed i danni ambientali che ha provocato. Il progetto, avviato cinque anni fa da investitori italiani e senegalesi, è stato sin dal suo inizio fortemente contestato da molte comunità di pastori e agricoltori che vivono sulle terre che il governo senegalese ha concesso all’azienda.
Over the past four years, Senegalese and Italian investors (first Senethanol and then Senhuile, a... more Over the past four years, Senegalese and Italian investors (first Senethanol and then Senhuile, a joint venture majority owned by the Tampieri Financial Group of Italy)5 have been seeking to produce sweet potatoes and then sunflowers in the north-western region of Saint-Louis in Senegal. During this period, these investors have enjoyed support from the Senegalese government and from influential local and national elites. But to this day, Senhuile-Senethanol has disregarded the concerns of local communities in relation to the invest- ment. These communities, anticipating disastrous impacts on their livelihoods, have constantly requested the organisation of proper consultations through which they would have access to clear information about the project and the option to refuse the project or to set conditions for its implementation. The disregard of local communities has twice led to clashes between disheartened local communities, supporters of the project and police forces, which caused the deaths of two people in October 2011 in Fanaye, where the investment was initially planned. As a result, the then Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade relocated the project to Ndiael, about 100 km west of Fanaye. This project was to be implemented by a recently established company called Senhuile, a joint venture between Senethanol and Tampieri.
Far from learning from the tragic events in Fanaye, Senhuile has continued to implement the project, benefiting from the lack of protection of local communities’ customary land tenure rights, failing to carry out adequate consultations, ignoring its legal obligation under Senegalese law to conduct an in-depth Environmental and Social Impact Study (EIES) before starting any activity in Ndiael, violating the right to water, food and the environment, and disregarding the requirement for free, prior and informed consent. The investment is therefore a clear case of a land grab. ActionAid, along with a wide range of civil society organisations, has been supporting the claims of local communities in Ndiael throughout this process and is calling on the company to stop the project and conduct a proper consultation with communities.6 This call was supported by 105,000 citizens worldwide who sent urgent appeals to the Tampieri Financial Group, the majority shareholder in Senhuile. Tampieri met representatives of ActionAid Italy in June 2014 and claimed it would go on with its project and conduct proper consultations with all affected communities. In early September 2014, Senhuile contacted a representative of the Collective for the protection of Ndiael lands to propose a meeting, which is a welcome move, but up to now no such meeting has taken place and nothing has changed for the affected communities.
Senegalese authorities have failed to protect and respect the rights of local communities and – where Senegalese law is weak – Senhuile has failed to go above and beyond and meet its obligations under human rights law, in particular the requirement to avoid the negative human rights impacts of its operations and to ensure proper and transparent consultation with communities. This report provides an analysis of the company’s investment in Fanaye and Ndiael over the past four years, stressing serious shortcomings in the consultation process; the persistent lack of transparency about key issues such as the exact areas where land will be cultivated; the threats to the region’s fragile environment; the unbalanced impact that land grabs like this have on women; and the adverse impact on the lives and the food security of local people. It ends with recommendations for both the government and the company.
What role does nature play and how to consider the effects of the socio-ecological crisis to unde... more What role does nature play and how to consider the effects of the socio-ecological crisis to understanding capitalist expansion today?
Eco-Marxist approaches point to a structural contradiction in capitalism’s relationship to nature, which may lead to a non-return crisis of reproduction, due to the ever-increasing costs capital has to bear to regenerate a non-fully renewable environment. This analysis seems all the more appropriate when considering the importance that the issue of ecological limits to growth has gained within social struggles, political demands, and capitalist recomposition strategies. Yet, such dynamics also reveal the attempt to take over environmental criticalities by transforming them into new market opportunities. Under this framework, capitalism seems to be moving toward the complete integration of nature by means of the primary valorization of reproductive capacities of inorganic and organic matter, including human and animal bodies.
Exploring the nature-value nexus allows us to address the mechanisms, implications and impacts of such a move. It also leads us to ask how rethinking the role of reproduction and of non-human and biologic productivity can provide a way not simply to update Marxist or anthropocentric thinking, but also to challenge the logics that sustains capitalist accumulation, opening to a posthuman understanding of production and to the appreciation of multi-species forms of co-dependence. Do we need a more than a human understanding of value?
Programme 2019-2020
Capitalism, Biocapitalism or ? with Dominique Meda, Maura Benegiamo, Luigi Pellizzoni, André Orlean, Antonella Corsani, Michael Löwy and Jean-Marie Harribey | Tuesday, September 24th, 2019, from 5pm to 8pm Financing the crises: climate, biodiversity and public action with Razming Keucheyan, Antonio Ducastel, Benoît Dauguet and Florence Jany-Catrice | Wednesday, October 16th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm Bio-economy and bio-labour with Philippe Brunet, Benjamin Raimbault, Sébastien Lemerle and Maura Benegiamo | Friday, November 22nd, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm The crises seen from the rural spaces: the agrifood system and the value of biodiversity with William Loveluck, Phanette Barral and Maura Benegiamo | Wednesday, December 18th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm Animal husbandry: bodies, labour and ecology with Marc-Olivier Déplaude, Jocelyne Porcher, François Thoreau and Riccardo Ciavolella | Tuesday, January 14th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm
Call for Paper, Sociologia del Lavoro, Special Issue n. 165 (1) 2023
https://www.francoangeli.it... more Call for Paper, Sociologia del Lavoro, Special Issue n. 165 (1) 2023
Panel Session Chairs: Terra, mercato e politiche. La de-mercificazione passa per i commons?
Cos... more Panel Session Chairs: Terra, mercato e politiche. La de-mercificazione passa per i commons?
Cosa vuol dire rendere la terra un bene comune? Dal land grabbing al consumo di suolo, la terra e le risorse in esse inscritte sono sempre più inserite nei percorsi di accumulazione e finanziarizzazione, con conseguenti effetti di mercificazione, privazione e dispossemento. Lo Stato e i governi locali sono attori chiave, ma spesso si trovano ad agevolare piuttosto che contrastare queste tendenze. I commons vengono invocati come una terza via per uscire da tale impasse, ma si tratta di una categoria empiricamente ed analiticamente ancora poco definita. La sessione raccoglie contributi teorici e studi di caso che interrogano la problematica dei beni comuni in merito a pratiche, politiche e conflitti legati alla gestione della terra e delle risorse
Journée d'Etudes, Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, 2018
Second colloque destiné à la mise en route d'un groupe de travail sur les questions foncières, da... more Second colloque destiné à la mise en route d'un groupe de travail sur les questions foncières, dans une perspective pluridisciplinaire et globale. Il vise à souligner la richesse de l’objet foncier en tant que levier d’analyse de processus qui s’inscrivent dans des logiques englobantes.
Le foncier, un prisme pertinent pour revisiter d’autres objets :
Marginalisé voire totalement évacué des sciences sociales sous l’effet du paradigme culturaliste qui a prédominé dans la production académique depuis les années 1980, il nous semble que le foncier offre pourtant une porte d’entrée privilégiée vers d’autres objets d’études. En effet, qu’on entreprenne de mettre en lumière les logiques actuelles à l’œuvre dans les reconfigurations du pouvoir néo- et « postnéo- » libéral, ou qu’on s’emploie davantage à historiciser les modalités d’appropriation matérielle et symbolique des terres, la démarche méthodologique qui consiste à conférer une centralité aux questions foncières invite à reconsidérer des problématiques centrales et communes à divers terrains, telles que l’évolution des modèles économiques, la construction des Etats, ou bien encore des conflits liés aux usages des ressources.
L’enjeu nous apparaît donc essentiellement de parvenir à ré-ancrer l’analyse de phénomènes ayant court dans les sphères symbolique et émotionnelle dans une matérialité dont tient lieu le foncier en tant qu’ensemble privilégié des relations qui se nouent entre les individus et la terre. Cette matrice de la matérialité constitue à notre avis l’une des clés pour saisir une double logique : d’une part, éviter le « hors-sol » de dynamiques globales dans l’économie et le politique dans le contexte de la déterritorialisation des Etats depuis le tournant du néolibéralisme et postnéo-libéralisme ; d’autre part, éclairer les mécanismes par lesquels les terres, les populations, et l’environnement (socialement et symboliquement construits) sont à leur tour matériellement « incorporés » dans des rationalités englobantes.
Conference Internationale, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (MSH), Grenoble, France, 2016
Dans les dernières décennies, l’accroissement de la demande mondiale en ressources naturelles a c... more Dans les dernières décennies, l’accroissement de la demande mondiale en ressources naturelles a considérablement accru la pression sur l’accès et la gestion des terres à travers le monde. Des mobilisations contre l’exploitation du gaz de schiste aux USA et en Europe, en passant par l’opposition des populations locales aux projets miniers, pétroliers ou agro-industriels en Amérique latine, en Afrique ou encore en Asie, la diversité des contextes témoigne aussi d’une augmentation des conflits socio-environnementaux liés aux modalités d’usages des terres et du sous-sol. Le foncier fournit pour ainsi dire un socle à la définition des régimes de propriété et d’usage de la terre, et une base aux structures sociales – rurales et urbaines. Plusieurs évolutions et événements majeurs ont suscité des débats d’ordre juridique, telles que la constitution de domaines latifundiaires, les réformes agraires ou encore l’adoption de stratégies économiques de type extractiviste. Les deux premières interrogent la propriété du sol ; la dernière porte sur la souveraineté du sous-sol. La question foncière se pose dès lors comme centrale pour la compréhension de processus tant socio-économiques que politiques. Elle constitue aussi l’un des leviers d’analyse privilégié de la globalisation en cours.
Nei primi anni Duemila il fenomeno del land grabbing, ossia del passaggio di mano di enormi esten... more Nei primi anni Duemila il fenomeno del land grabbing, ossia del passaggio di mano di enormi estensioni di terre agricole, ha evidenziato l'affermarsi di nuovi modi di pensare al cibo e al problema della sussistenza energetica su scala globale. Sullo sfondo di una crisi ecologica epocale, nell' Africa subsaha-riana, nuovi modelli di sviluppo mirano a riconfigurare in maniera radicale gli spazi rurali e le pratiche produttive. Come mostra il caso delle comunità pa-storali in Senegal, le cui lotte sono oggetto di questo studio, la comprensione di tali processi richiede di riflettere su una storia più ampia: i tempi lunghi dello sviluppo capitalista, l'avanzare del modello coloniale estrattivista e le forme di opposizione, a loro volta radicate nelle esperienze della dominazione colonia-le. È proprio attorno alla questione della crisi e delle sue origini che emergo-no dinamiche di resistenza, incarnate nelle idee e nelle azioni di chi propone modi alternativi di pensare la riproduzione, il territorio e le forme dell'abitare. La possibilità di una transizione ecologica dipenderà allora dalla capacità di liberare lo sguardo, verso nuove alleanze socio-ecologiche.
The article draws on land and green grabbing debate to critically interrogate the failure of eigh... more The article draws on land and green grabbing debate to critically interrogate the failure of eight Italian investments in agrofuel production in Senegal. It focuses on the characteristics of the Italian investors who were drawn to agro-energy production and of the incentives structures that motivated them. Once on site, multiple management problems and conflicts with the local population arose. The article argues that this is not solely attributable to a lack of responsibility, bad governance and ethics of individual firms: green economy and its speculative arrangements must also be considered.
Ricordiamo che a un anno dalla pubblicazione, i numeri della rivista «Zapruder» vengono resi disp... more Ricordiamo che a un anno dalla pubblicazione, i numeri della rivista «Zapruder» vengono resi disponibili in download gratuito sul nostro sito! http://storieinmovimento.org/2022/07/14/cinquantottesimo-numero/
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Papers by Maura Benegiamo
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La fin du Consensus de Washington a coïncidé avec le démarrage d’une nouvelle phase de développement impulsée par l’idée de l’émergence africaine. Au Sénégal, cela s’est traduit par la relance des politiques de développement agricole, marquée par une augmentation des investissements fonciers à grande échelle. Cette étude se fonde sur l’analyse de la gestion d’un investissement agro-industriel dans la région du delta du fleuve Sénégal qui a entraîné le transfert de 20 000 hectares de terres pastorales et du conflit qui s’est ensuivi avec les populations locales. Elle accorde une attention particulière aux procédures de gouvernance foncière qui sous-tendent l’investissement, aux formes de régulation formelles et informelles, publiques et privées qui accompagnent sa mise en place, ainsi qu’à la gestion des relations avec les populations affectées par le projet. Elle met en évidence l’articulation stratégique entre action étatique et gouvernance néolibérale dans la réorganisation des relations entre territoires, droits et habitants, qui poursuit l’avancement de la colonisation agricole du delta. Ces dynamiques reflètent la transformation néolibérale de l’« État du développement » et minent la possibilité de participation des populations locales dans les processus de développement portant sur leurs territoires.
Keywords: Anthropocene, agrarian question, new-materialism, land grabbing, pastoralism, Senegal
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La fin du Consensus de Washington a coïncidé avec le démarrage d’une nouvelle phase de développement impulsée par l’idée de l’émergence africaine. Au Sénégal, cela s’est traduit par la relance des politiques de développement agricole, marquée par une augmentation des investissements fonciers à grande échelle. Cette étude se fonde sur l’analyse de la gestion d’un investissement agro-industriel dans la région du delta du fleuve Sénégal qui a entraîné le transfert de 20 000 hectares de terres pastorales et du conflit qui s’est ensuivi avec les populations locales. Elle accorde une attention particulière aux procédures de gouvernance foncière qui sous-tendent l’investissement, aux formes de régulation formelles et informelles, publiques et privées qui accompagnent sa mise en place, ainsi qu’à la gestion des relations avec les populations affectées par le projet. Elle met en évidence l’articulation stratégique entre action étatique et gouvernance néolibérale dans la réorganisation des relations entre territoires, droits et habitants, qui poursuit l’avancement de la colonisation agricole du delta. Ces dynamiques reflètent la transformation néolibérale de l’« État du développement » et minent la possibilité de participation des populations locales dans les processus de développement portant sur leurs territoires.
Keywords: Anthropocene, agrarian question, new-materialism, land grabbing, pastoralism, Senegal
Il rapporto è stato scritto da ricercatori, giornalisti e attivisti italiani e successivamente pubblicato dai seguenti gruppi italiani, senegalesi e internazionali che da anni lavorano assieme per dimostrare che il progetto Senhuile è dannoso e illegittimo: Re:Common, in collaborazione con il Collectif pour la Défense du Ndiaël, GRAIN, l’Investigative Reporting Project Italy (IRPI), l’associazione SUNUGAL, e il collettivo WOTS?.
Il fascicolo dimostra che il controverso progetto di agribusiness dell’azienda senegalese Senhuile continua essere al centro di un conflitto e non accenna a placare la divisione sociale ed i danni ambientali che ha provocato. Il progetto, avviato cinque anni fa da investitori italiani e senegalesi, è stato sin dal suo inizio fortemente contestato da molte comunità di pastori e agricoltori che vivono sulle terre che il governo senegalese ha concesso all’azienda.
Far from learning from the tragic events in Fanaye, Senhuile has continued to implement the project, benefiting from the lack of protection of local communities’ customary land tenure rights, failing to carry out adequate consultations, ignoring its legal obligation under Senegalese law to conduct an in-depth Environmental and Social Impact Study (EIES) before starting any activity in Ndiael, violating the right to water, food and the environment, and disregarding the requirement for free, prior and informed consent. The investment is therefore a clear case of a land grab. ActionAid, along with a wide range of civil society organisations, has been supporting the claims of local communities in Ndiael throughout this process and is calling on the company to stop the project and conduct a proper consultation with communities.6 This call was supported by 105,000 citizens worldwide who sent urgent appeals to the Tampieri Financial Group, the majority shareholder in Senhuile. Tampieri met representatives of ActionAid Italy in June 2014 and claimed it would go on with its project and conduct proper consultations with all affected communities. In early September 2014, Senhuile contacted a representative of the Collective for the protection of Ndiael lands to propose a meeting, which is a welcome move, but up to now no such meeting has taken place and nothing has changed for the affected communities.
Senegalese authorities have failed to protect and respect the rights of local communities and – where Senegalese law is weak – Senhuile has failed to go above and beyond and meet its obligations under human rights law, in particular the requirement to avoid the negative human rights impacts of its operations and to ensure proper and transparent consultation with communities. This report provides an analysis of the company’s investment in Fanaye and Ndiael over the past four years, stressing serious shortcomings in the consultation process; the persistent lack of transparency about key issues such as the exact areas where land will be cultivated; the threats to the region’s fragile environment; the unbalanced impact that land grabs like this have on women; and the adverse impact on the lives and the food security of local people. It ends with recommendations for both the government and the company.
Eco-Marxist approaches point to a structural contradiction in capitalism’s relationship to nature, which may lead to a non-return crisis of reproduction, due to the ever-increasing costs capital has to bear to regenerate a non-fully renewable environment. This analysis seems all the more appropriate when considering the importance that the issue of ecological limits to growth has gained within social struggles, political demands, and capitalist recomposition strategies. Yet, such dynamics also reveal the attempt to take over environmental criticalities by transforming them into new market opportunities. Under this framework, capitalism seems to be moving toward the complete integration of nature by means of the primary valorization of reproductive capacities of inorganic and organic matter, including human and animal bodies.
Exploring the nature-value nexus allows us to address the mechanisms, implications and impacts of such a move. It also leads us to ask how rethinking the role of reproduction and of non-human and biologic productivity can provide a way not simply to update Marxist or anthropocentric thinking, but also to challenge the logics that sustains capitalist accumulation, opening to a posthuman understanding of production and to the appreciation of multi-species forms of co-dependence. Do we need a more than a human understanding of value?
Programme 2019-2020
Capitalism, Biocapitalism or ? with Dominique Meda, Maura Benegiamo, Luigi Pellizzoni, André Orlean, Antonella Corsani, Michael Löwy and Jean-Marie Harribey
| Tuesday, September 24th, 2019, from 5pm to 8pm
Financing the crises: climate, biodiversity and public action with Razming Keucheyan, Antonio Ducastel, Benoît Dauguet and Florence Jany-Catrice
| Wednesday, October 16th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm
Bio-economy and bio-labour with Philippe Brunet, Benjamin Raimbault, Sébastien Lemerle and Maura Benegiamo
| Friday, November 22nd, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm
The crises seen from the rural spaces: the agrifood system and the value of biodiversity with William Loveluck, Phanette Barral and Maura Benegiamo
| Wednesday, December 18th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm
Animal husbandry: bodies, labour and ecology with Marc-Olivier Déplaude, Jocelyne Porcher, François Thoreau and Riccardo Ciavolella
| Tuesday, January 14th, 2019, from 6pm to 8pm
https://www.francoangeli.it/riviste/CFP/SL-call45.pdf
Cosa vuol dire rendere la terra un bene comune? Dal land grabbing al consumo di suolo, la terra e le risorse in esse inscritte sono sempre più inserite nei percorsi di accumulazione e finanziarizzazione, con conseguenti effetti di mercificazione, privazione e dispossemento. Lo Stato e i governi locali sono attori chiave, ma spesso si trovano ad agevolare piuttosto che contrastare queste tendenze. I commons vengono invocati come una terza via per uscire da tale impasse, ma si tratta di una categoria empiricamente ed analiticamente ancora poco definita. La sessione raccoglie contributi teorici e studi di caso che interrogano la problematica dei beni comuni in merito a pratiche, politiche e conflitti legati alla gestione della terra e delle risorse
Il vise à souligner la richesse de l’objet foncier en tant que levier d’analyse de processus qui s’inscrivent dans des logiques englobantes.
Le foncier, un prisme pertinent pour revisiter d’autres objets :
Marginalisé voire totalement évacué des sciences sociales sous l’effet du paradigme culturaliste qui a prédominé dans la production académique depuis les années 1980, il nous semble que le foncier offre pourtant une porte d’entrée privilégiée vers d’autres objets d’études. En effet, qu’on entreprenne de mettre en lumière les logiques actuelles à l’œuvre dans les reconfigurations du pouvoir néo- et « postnéo- » libéral, ou qu’on s’emploie davantage à historiciser les modalités d’appropriation matérielle et symbolique des terres, la démarche méthodologique qui consiste à conférer une centralité aux questions foncières invite à reconsidérer des problématiques centrales et communes à divers terrains, telles que l’évolution des modèles économiques, la construction des Etats, ou bien encore des conflits liés aux usages des ressources.
L’enjeu nous apparaît donc essentiellement de parvenir à ré-ancrer l’analyse de phénomènes ayant court dans les sphères symbolique et émotionnelle dans une matérialité dont tient lieu le foncier en tant qu’ensemble privilégié des relations qui se nouent entre les individus et la terre. Cette matrice de la matérialité constitue à notre avis l’une des clés pour saisir une double logique : d’une part, éviter le « hors-sol » de dynamiques globales dans l’économie et le politique dans le contexte de la déterritorialisation des Etats depuis le tournant du néolibéralisme et postnéo-libéralisme ; d’autre part, éclairer les mécanismes par lesquels les terres, les populations, et l’environnement (socialement et symboliquement construits) sont à leur tour matériellement « incorporés » dans des rationalités englobantes.