Power and Politics Through Keywords (And the Politics of Land)

Power and politics often operate through keywords in everyday life. No trespassing is one of the most ubiquitous phrases used to assert and protect ownership, often of land. It is a term of exclusion. Keywords neither interpret nor implement themselves; their meaning unfolds through the dynamics of social relations among groups and classes. They are relational, embedded in power, and therefore political. Anyone with a land claim can post a no trespassing sign, but the ability to enforce it is another matter.

In this lecture, Jun Borras will examine the role of keywords in land politics and why it is crucial to understand the meanings and counter-meanings attached to terms such as land tenure, land reform, land access, property, land rush, and land grabs in the context of production and social reproduction. The talk will draw on and introduce two newly released books by Borras: Essential Concepts of Land Politics and The Oxford Handbook of Land Politics.

Speaker: Jun Borras, Professor of Agrarian Studies, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague.

Moderator: Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, Emeritus Professor, Wageningen University, and Adjunct Professor, China Agricultural University.