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Biography
Dr. Phillan Zamchiya officially joined the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) as a senior researcher in 2017. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) in International Development from the University of Oxford. His academic interests are twofold. He studies contemporary trajectories of land and agrarian change in Southern Africa and the politics of post-colonial states in democratic transitions. He is currently the regional coordinator of PLAAS’s new project on the privatisation of customary land and women’s land rights in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.
Previously, he was a Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University where he taught on the Master of Philosophy program at the Department of International Department. He holds an MPhil in Land and Agrarian Studies from the University of the Western Cape. Before joining UWC, he studied for a BSc in Politics at the University of Zimbabwe. Dr. Zamchiya has worked extensively with civil society organisations in Zimbabwe and as a result he has been a victim of state engineered attacks. He is published in international peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Southern African Studies, the Journal of Peasant Studies and the Journal of Agrarian Change. He is currently writing a monograph on State, Politics and Land in Zimbabwe.
Research Focus
Land redistribution projects and wider impacts on poverty and inequality in South Africa
Qualifications
- DPhil in Development Studies, University of Oxford
- MPhil in Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape
- BSc Hons in Politics and Administration, University of Zimbabwe
Selected Publications
- Zamchiya, P. (2019). Mining, capital and dispossession in Limpopo, South Africa. Working Paper 56, Cape Town: Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape.
- Zamchiya, P. (2018). Foreign investments and livelihoods in Northern Zambia. Working Paper 55. Cape Town: Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape.
- Joala, R., Zamchiya, P., Ntauazi, C., Musole, P., and Katbebe, C., 2016. Changing agro-food systems: The impact of big agro-investors on food rights – Case studies in Mozambique and Zambia, Cape Town: Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape.
- Zamchiya, P. and Gausi, J. (2015). Commercialisation of land and ‘Land Grabbing’: Implications for land rights and livelihoods in Malawi. Research Report 15. Cape Town: Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape.
- Hall, R., Gausi, J., Matondi, P., Muduva, T., Nhancale, C., Phiri, D. and Zamchiya, P. (2015). Large-scale land deals in Southern Africa: Voices of the people. Cape Town: Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), University of the Western Cape.
- Zamchiya, P. 2013.The Role of Politics and State Practices in Shaping Rural Differentiation: A Study of Resettled Small-Scale Farmers in South-Eastern Zimbabwe . Journal of Southern African Studies, 39 (4). 937-953.