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Agrarian Politics Episode 3: Issa Shivji on neoliberalism, working people’s resistance and the role of intellectuals in Africa (Part 1)

In this episode, we speak to Prof Issa Shivji, a leading scholar in agrarian studies and pan-Africanism about his concept of "working people" which refers to a broad range of people living on the margins in both the countryside and the cities. He argues that the class categories of "working class" and "peasantry" no longer accurately describe concrete realities, following…
PLAAS
August 17, 2020
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Briefing note on “Covid-19 and African food security”

Briefing note on “Covid-19 and African food security” The impacts of Covid-19 on food security are complex. While food production continues, the pandemic has profoundly affected farmers, fishers, workers and traders, and the ability of people to buy food. The interruption of food value chains, and regional and global trade, have prompted export bans and other measures to shore up…
PLAAS
August 12, 2020
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PLAAS Webinar: What do you mean ‘we’? Activists, academics and NGOs in civil society coalitions

Webinar: What do you mean ‘we’? Activists, academics and NGOs in civil society coalitions Thursday, 13 August 2020 at 13:00 (CAT) Join PLAAS for a webinar on “What do you mean ‘we’? Activists, academics and NGOs in civil society coalitions”. Many activists have argued that the crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic also presents an important opportunity for change, and…
PLAAS
August 7, 2020
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PLAAS Webinar: The gendered impacts of Covid-19: Women in informal work

Webinar: The gendered impacts of Covid-19: Women in informal work Thursday, 6 August 2020 at 13:00 (CAT) Join PLAAS for a webinar on “The gendered impacts of Covid-19: Women in informal work” featuring Ma Lulama (street vendor), Tema Swayimani (agricultural field officer working with smallholder farmers, Mahlathini Development Foundation) and an anonymous small-scale fish trader (together with Malebo Moepi, PhD…
PLAAS
August 3, 2020
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PLAAS Webinar: Land reform and the art of government: The role and capacity of the state

Webinar: Land reform and the art of government: The role and capacity of the state Thursday, 30 July 2020 at 13:00 (CAT) Join PLAAS for a webinar where we discuss the central place of the art of government in land reform and in rural development more broadly. Our guests are Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi, director of the Public Affairs Research Institute…
PLAAS
July 27, 2020
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Briefing note on “African land rights in the time of the coronavirus”

Briefing note on “African land rights in the time of the coronavirus: Perspectives from West, East and Southern Africa” The Covid 19 pandemic has rapidly expanded from a public health to a food and livelihood crisis, exposing the vulnerability of millions of rural people who have limited access to and insecure tenure of land and other natural resources. At the…
PLAAS
July 21, 2020
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Call for Applications: DAAD PLAAS NELGA Scholarship Applications 2021

The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in collaboration with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape (UWC), is offering in-country/in-region scholarships, within the Network of Excellence for Land Governance in Africa (NELGA). This forms part of the Strengthening Advisory Capacities for Land Governance in Africa (SLGA) programme funded by the German Federal Ministry…
PLAAS
July 20, 2020
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Webinar: Struggles for the African Commons: Building an Agenda for Engaged Scholarship

Webinar: Struggles for the African Commons: Building an Agenda for Engaged Scholarship Friday, 24 July 2020 at 17:00 (CAT) Hosts: Moenieba Isaacs, PLAAS, and Ruth Hall, PLAAS Panelists: Issa Shivji, Kojo Amanor, University of Ghana, and Moenieba Isaacs, PLAASGoverning the commons is profoundly a question of political economy. We want to start the conversation and build momentum around an agenda…
PLAAS
July 17, 2020
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Agrarian Politics Episode 2: Food activism in the Covid-19 crisis

Agrarian Politics Episode 2: Food activism in the Covid-19 crisis The Covid-19 pandemic has quickly become a hunger crisis. Activists who for years have mobilised around agrarian and food justice have quickly responded to the Covid-19 crisis by connecting marginalised farmers with poor communities. They argue that the crisis threatens poor people throughout the food system–but also offers a moment…
PLAAS
July 17, 2020
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PLAAS Webinar: Beyond elite capture: Promoting livelihoods and jobs in South Africa’s land reform

Webinar: Beyond elite capture: Promoting livelihoods and jobs in South Africa’s land reform Thursday, 16 July 2020 at 13:00 (CAT) Join PLAAS for a webinar on “Beyond elite capture: Promoting livelihoods and jobs in South Africa’s land reform” featuring Dr Farai Mtero (senior researcher, PLAAS) and Professor Ben Cousins (PLAAS founder and Emeritus Professor, University of the Western Cape). South…
PLAAS
July 10, 2020