ABSTRACT

In the wake of food, fuel, and financial crises of 2007/8, there has been a surge in large-scale land acquisitions in the global South, a phenomenon which became popularly known as a “global land grab.” The early literature on the topic focused broadly on making sense of what was happening when, where, how, and why. Since mid-2012, there has been a growing body of empirical research on contemporary land deals that foreground gender and other forms of social difference. This chapter provides an overview of five thematic issues on gender and land grabbing, emerging from scholarship in feminist political ecology, critical agrarian studies, feminist economics, rural sociology, and related fields. These themes include: a) consultation and negotiation; b) access to land and livelihoods; c) compensation and resettlement; d) labor relations; and e) political reactions from below and above. The chapter concludes with an invitation for continued feminist inquiry into these interconnected issues, while opening up new questions and concerns for consideration.