Wendy Wolford | Cornell University (original) (raw)
Papers by Wendy Wolford
Annals of the American Association of Geographers , 2021
Open access at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2020.1850231 *In this articl... more Open access at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2020.1850231 *In this article, I contribute to theorization of the modern era as the Plantationocene, a concept grounded in life on the land and centered around the role of the plantation in sustaining a racialized elite, propelling colonial exploration, creating a core and a periphery, sanctioning forced labor, and shaping both the cultures we consume and the cultural norms we inhabit and perform. I draw on empirical work conducted in the lusotropics (Brazil, Mozambique, and Portugal) as well as on theoretical work in agrarian studies, critical development studies, and political ecology to elaborate on three aspects I argue are necessary to a complete understanding of plantation influences within and beyond its physical borders: the plantation as a concrete set of social relations, the plantation form as a historically specific imperative in the modern world system, and the plantation landscape as a discursive ideal.
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Journal of Agrarian Change, 2019
Available free online. In 2010, political leaders of three countries—Brazil, Japan, and Mozambiqu... more Available free online. In 2010, political leaders of three countries—Brazil, Japan, and Mozambique—announced an ambitious trilateral collaboration intended to re-make the Mozambican savannah. Political and business leaders hailed ProSavana as an innovative project that would apply Brazil’s success in agricultural modernization to one of the poorest countries in the world. Drawing on interviews with project personnel and agricultural research scientists in Mozambique as well as on archival material from the colonial period, I argue that although ProSavana was promoted as a way to bring Mozambican agriculture into the twenty-first century with the aid of cutting-edge science, it was very much a throwback to the colonial period.
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A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is con... more A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is constituted in different places, one manifestation of the new moment is the rise of distinct forms of authoritarian populism. In this opening paper of the JPS Forum series on ‘Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World’, we explore the relationship between these new forms of politics and rural areas around the world. We ask how rural
transformations have contributed to deepening regressive national politics, and how rural areas shape and are shaped by these politics. We propose a global agenda for research, debate and action, which we call the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI, ww.iss.nl/erpi). This centres on understanding the contemporary conjuncture, working to confront authoritarian populism through the analysis of and
support for alternatives.
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Abstract: In this introductory article we argue for renewed attention to life and labor on and of... more Abstract: In this introductory article we argue for renewed attention to life and
labor on and of the land—or what we call the field of Critical Agrarian Studies.
Empirically rich and theoretically rigorous studies of humanity’s relationship to “soil”
remain essential not just for historical analysis but for understanding urgent
contemporary crises, including widespread food insecurity, climate change, the
proliferation of environmental refugees, growing corporate power and threats to
biodiversity. The article introduces an innovative and varied collection of works in
Critical Agrarian Studies and also examines the intellectual and political history of this
broader field.
Resumen: En este artículo introductorio sobre Estudios Agrarios Críticos planteamos
que la tierra y el suelo—y las relaciones sociales y de trabajo que se desenvuelven
ahí—merecen una renovada atención de parte de los científicos sociales. Los estudios
empíricos y teóricamente rigurosos sobre la relación tierra/suelo/humanidad son
imprescindibles no sólo para el análisis histórico sino para comprender las crisis
contemporáneas urgentes, tales como la inseguridad alimentaria, el cambio climático,
la proliferación de refugiados que huyen de desastres ambientales, el creciente poder
de las grandes corporaciones y las amenazas a la biodiversidad. El artículo presenta
una colección innovadora y variada de trabajos en Estudios Agrarios Críticos y también
reflexiona sobre la historia intelectual y política de este campo de estudio.
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Land reform has been one of the most contentious issues in Brazilian political history. Governmen... more Land reform has been one of the most contentious issues in Brazilian political history. Government administrations since the 1960s have adopted the banner of reform , and the country has implemented vast colonization and redistribution programs, but the objectives and the effects of those programs have varied widely. Throughout this long history, considerable scholarship has focused on the programs themselves as well as on the increasingly radical social movements that have fought for more enduring reform. Most of this work, however, has invoked the state as the site of policy making and political direction and paid little attention to the state workers responsible for actually implementing reform. In this article, I present a qualitative analysis of the agency in charge of land distribution and settlement since 1970, the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). I argue that understanding the politics of reform requires attention to the political culture within INCRA, which can only be explained through examination of the agency's long history as fi rst a tool of frontier colonization and then a response to social mobilization.
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Over the past 15 years, land reform has returned from the " dustbin of history " to serve again a... more Over the past 15 years, land reform has returned from the " dustbin of history " to serve again as a viable policy option. Much has been written about its resurgence, with the research tending to focus narrowly on the role of prices, policies, and politics in shaping the design and outcome of distribution. While these are necessary elements to understand, their reification neglects the critical element of process. Land reform programs are implemented by an array of government actors and negotiated on the ground by beneficiaries, social movement activists, large farmers, and the general public. A messy assemblage of actors and interests shapes both the design and the outcome of distribution. Qualitative analysis of the federal agency in charge of land reform in Brazil, the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform—INCRA), reveals that, in the context of increased citizen participation and reduced funding, the agency must work together with social movement activists to perform its task. The analysis suggests that the study of state-society relations today requires a new vocabulary that highlights substance and process rather than form.
Nos últimos 15 anos, a reforma agrária foi resgatada do arquivo histórico para servir como opção políticamente viável. Muito se tem escrito sobre essa restauração. Pesquisas têm concentrado atenção no papel de preços, legislação e política no desenho e resultado da distribuição. Ainda que seja necessário entender esses elementos, sua ratificação ignora os elementos críticos do processo. Programas de reforma agrária são implementados por uma variedade de atores governamentais e negociados por beneficiários, ativistas de movimen-tos sociais, grandes agricultores e pelo público em geral. Um mosaico desengonçado de atores e interesses dão forma tanto ao desenho quanto ao resultado da distribuição. Análise qualitativa da agência federal responsável pela reforma agrária no Brasil, o Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA), revela que, no contexto de maior participação de cidadãos e de recursos reduzidos, é importante que a agência atue coorde-nadamente com ativistas de movimentos sociais para desempenhar seu papel. A análise
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As part of a larger push for so-called South–South development, Brazil is supporting projects in ... more As part of a larger push for so-called South–South development, Brazil is supporting projects in a growing number of countries across Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we investigate the agricultural project ProSAVANA in Mozambique.
We draw on research conducted in Brazil and Mozambique and argue that the attempt to replicate Brazil’s successes in agro-industrial commodity production discounts the importance of nationally specific relationships between the state, land, labour and capital.
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A rise in large-scale land acquisitions has been documented in the popular media and scholarly li... more A rise in large-scale land acquisitions has been documented in the popular media and scholarly literature, but with little attention to elite actors and their motivations. In this introduction to the special issue, we expand upon commonly held understandings of the drivers of global land acquisitions to explore the complex, dynamic and sometimes contradictory motivations of elites
directly and indirectly involved in land deals. Focusing on the relationships between state actors, private investors, transnational corporations and scientific experts, we outline some principal ways in which elites with diverse interests shape land negotiations. We then introduce the articles in this issue and their contributions to the literature on land deals.
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![Research paper thumbnail of Understanding rural resistance: contemporary mobilization in the Brazilian countryside [Journal of Peasant Studies]](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/39035684/thumbnails/1.jpg)
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![Research paper thumbnail of "Introduction: Critical Perspectives on Food Sovereignty," [Guest editors’ introduction to special issue] Journal of Peasant Studies 41(6) (Nov.): 911-931](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/38260234/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Visions of food sovereignty have been extremely important in helping to galvanize broad-based and... more Visions of food sovereignty have been extremely important in helping to galvanize broad-based and diverse movements around the need for radical changes in agro-food systems. Yet while food sovereignty has thrived as a ‘dynamic process’, until recently there has been insufficient attention to many thorny questions, such as its origins, its connection to other food justice movements, its relation to rights discourses, the roles of markets and states and the challenges of implementation. This essay contributes to food sovereignty praxis by pushing the process of critical self-
reflection forward and considering its relation to critical agrarian studies – and vice versa.
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Development and Change, 2008
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Political reactions ‘from below’ to global land grabbing have been vastly more varied and complex... more Political reactions ‘from below’ to global land grabbing have been vastly more varied and complex than is usually assumed. This essay introduces a collection of ground- breaking studies that discuss responses that range from various types of organized and everyday resistance to demands for incorporation or for better terms of incorporation into land deals. Initiatives ‘from below’ in response to land deals have involved local and transnational alliances and the use of legal and extra-legal methods, and have brought victories and defeats. The relevance of political reactions to land grabbing is discussed in light of theories of social movements and critical agrarian studies. Future research on reactions ‘from below’ to land grabbing must include greater attention to gender and generational differences in both impacts and political agency.
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Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 2003
This article analyzes the formation of the largest grassroots social movement in Brazilian histor... more This article analyzes the formation of the largest grassroots social movement in Brazilian history: the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST). In movement literature and academic discourse, MST's formation has been consistently attributed to three factors— agricultural restructuring, political transition, and religious organization. These three factors form what I call an "Official Genesis Story." I argue that although the Official
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An overview of social movement strategies and tactics in Latin America over the past several deca... more An overview of social movement strategies and tactics in Latin America over the past several decades.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Annals of the American Association of Geographers , 2021
Open access at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2020.1850231 *In this articl... more Open access at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2020.1850231 *In this article, I contribute to theorization of the modern era as the Plantationocene, a concept grounded in life on the land and centered around the role of the plantation in sustaining a racialized elite, propelling colonial exploration, creating a core and a periphery, sanctioning forced labor, and shaping both the cultures we consume and the cultural norms we inhabit and perform. I draw on empirical work conducted in the lusotropics (Brazil, Mozambique, and Portugal) as well as on theoretical work in agrarian studies, critical development studies, and political ecology to elaborate on three aspects I argue are necessary to a complete understanding of plantation influences within and beyond its physical borders: the plantation as a concrete set of social relations, the plantation form as a historically specific imperative in the modern world system, and the plantation landscape as a discursive ideal.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Journal of Agrarian Change, 2019
Available free online. In 2010, political leaders of three countries—Brazil, Japan, and Mozambiqu... more Available free online. In 2010, political leaders of three countries—Brazil, Japan, and Mozambique—announced an ambitious trilateral collaboration intended to re-make the Mozambican savannah. Political and business leaders hailed ProSavana as an innovative project that would apply Brazil’s success in agricultural modernization to one of the poorest countries in the world. Drawing on interviews with project personnel and agricultural research scientists in Mozambique as well as on archival material from the colonial period, I argue that although ProSavana was promoted as a way to bring Mozambican agriculture into the twenty-first century with the aid of cutting-edge science, it was very much a throwback to the colonial period.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is con... more A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is constituted in different places, one manifestation of the new moment is the rise of distinct forms of authoritarian populism. In this opening paper of the JPS Forum series on ‘Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World’, we explore the relationship between these new forms of politics and rural areas around the world. We ask how rural
transformations have contributed to deepening regressive national politics, and how rural areas shape and are shaped by these politics. We propose a global agenda for research, debate and action, which we call the Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI, ww.iss.nl/erpi). This centres on understanding the contemporary conjuncture, working to confront authoritarian populism through the analysis of and
support for alternatives.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Abstract: In this introductory article we argue for renewed attention to life and labor on and of... more Abstract: In this introductory article we argue for renewed attention to life and
labor on and of the land—or what we call the field of Critical Agrarian Studies.
Empirically rich and theoretically rigorous studies of humanity’s relationship to “soil”
remain essential not just for historical analysis but for understanding urgent
contemporary crises, including widespread food insecurity, climate change, the
proliferation of environmental refugees, growing corporate power and threats to
biodiversity. The article introduces an innovative and varied collection of works in
Critical Agrarian Studies and also examines the intellectual and political history of this
broader field.
Resumen: En este artículo introductorio sobre Estudios Agrarios Críticos planteamos
que la tierra y el suelo—y las relaciones sociales y de trabajo que se desenvuelven
ahí—merecen una renovada atención de parte de los científicos sociales. Los estudios
empíricos y teóricamente rigurosos sobre la relación tierra/suelo/humanidad son
imprescindibles no sólo para el análisis histórico sino para comprender las crisis
contemporáneas urgentes, tales como la inseguridad alimentaria, el cambio climático,
la proliferación de refugiados que huyen de desastres ambientales, el creciente poder
de las grandes corporaciones y las amenazas a la biodiversidad. El artículo presenta
una colección innovadora y variada de trabajos en Estudios Agrarios Críticos y también
reflexiona sobre la historia intelectual y política de este campo de estudio.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Land reform has been one of the most contentious issues in Brazilian political history. Governmen... more Land reform has been one of the most contentious issues in Brazilian political history. Government administrations since the 1960s have adopted the banner of reform , and the country has implemented vast colonization and redistribution programs, but the objectives and the effects of those programs have varied widely. Throughout this long history, considerable scholarship has focused on the programs themselves as well as on the increasingly radical social movements that have fought for more enduring reform. Most of this work, however, has invoked the state as the site of policy making and political direction and paid little attention to the state workers responsible for actually implementing reform. In this article, I present a qualitative analysis of the agency in charge of land distribution and settlement since 1970, the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (INCRA). I argue that understanding the politics of reform requires attention to the political culture within INCRA, which can only be explained through examination of the agency's long history as fi rst a tool of frontier colonization and then a response to social mobilization.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Over the past 15 years, land reform has returned from the " dustbin of history " to serve again a... more Over the past 15 years, land reform has returned from the " dustbin of history " to serve again as a viable policy option. Much has been written about its resurgence, with the research tending to focus narrowly on the role of prices, policies, and politics in shaping the design and outcome of distribution. While these are necessary elements to understand, their reification neglects the critical element of process. Land reform programs are implemented by an array of government actors and negotiated on the ground by beneficiaries, social movement activists, large farmers, and the general public. A messy assemblage of actors and interests shapes both the design and the outcome of distribution. Qualitative analysis of the federal agency in charge of land reform in Brazil, the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform—INCRA), reveals that, in the context of increased citizen participation and reduced funding, the agency must work together with social movement activists to perform its task. The analysis suggests that the study of state-society relations today requires a new vocabulary that highlights substance and process rather than form.
Nos últimos 15 anos, a reforma agrária foi resgatada do arquivo histórico para servir como opção políticamente viável. Muito se tem escrito sobre essa restauração. Pesquisas têm concentrado atenção no papel de preços, legislação e política no desenho e resultado da distribuição. Ainda que seja necessário entender esses elementos, sua ratificação ignora os elementos críticos do processo. Programas de reforma agrária são implementados por uma variedade de atores governamentais e negociados por beneficiários, ativistas de movimen-tos sociais, grandes agricultores e pelo público em geral. Um mosaico desengonçado de atores e interesses dão forma tanto ao desenho quanto ao resultado da distribuição. Análise qualitativa da agência federal responsável pela reforma agrária no Brasil, o Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA), revela que, no contexto de maior participação de cidadãos e de recursos reduzidos, é importante que a agência atue coorde-nadamente com ativistas de movimentos sociais para desempenhar seu papel. A análise
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Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
As part of a larger push for so-called South–South development, Brazil is supporting projects in ... more As part of a larger push for so-called South–South development, Brazil is supporting projects in a growing number of countries across Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we investigate the agricultural project ProSAVANA in Mozambique.
We draw on research conducted in Brazil and Mozambique and argue that the attempt to replicate Brazil’s successes in agro-industrial commodity production discounts the importance of nationally specific relationships between the state, land, labour and capital.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
A rise in large-scale land acquisitions has been documented in the popular media and scholarly li... more A rise in large-scale land acquisitions has been documented in the popular media and scholarly literature, but with little attention to elite actors and their motivations. In this introduction to the special issue, we expand upon commonly held understandings of the drivers of global land acquisitions to explore the complex, dynamic and sometimes contradictory motivations of elites
directly and indirectly involved in land deals. Focusing on the relationships between state actors, private investors, transnational corporations and scientific experts, we outline some principal ways in which elites with diverse interests shape land negotiations. We then introduce the articles in this issue and their contributions to the literature on land deals.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
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Visions of food sovereignty have been extremely important in helping to galvanize broad-based and... more Visions of food sovereignty have been extremely important in helping to galvanize broad-based and diverse movements around the need for radical changes in agro-food systems. Yet while food sovereignty has thrived as a ‘dynamic process’, until recently there has been insufficient attention to many thorny questions, such as its origins, its connection to other food justice movements, its relation to rights discourses, the roles of markets and states and the challenges of implementation. This essay contributes to food sovereignty praxis by pushing the process of critical self-
reflection forward and considering its relation to critical agrarian studies – and vice versa.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Development and Change, 2008
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Political reactions ‘from below’ to global land grabbing have been vastly more varied and complex... more Political reactions ‘from below’ to global land grabbing have been vastly more varied and complex than is usually assumed. This essay introduces a collection of ground- breaking studies that discuss responses that range from various types of organized and everyday resistance to demands for incorporation or for better terms of incorporation into land deals. Initiatives ‘from below’ in response to land deals have involved local and transnational alliances and the use of legal and extra-legal methods, and have brought victories and defeats. The relevance of political reactions to land grabbing is discussed in light of theories of social movements and critical agrarian studies. Future research on reactions ‘from below’ to land grabbing must include greater attention to gender and generational differences in both impacts and political agency.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Mobilization: An International Quarterly, 2003
This article analyzes the formation of the largest grassroots social movement in Brazilian histor... more This article analyzes the formation of the largest grassroots social movement in Brazilian history: the Movement of Rural Landless Workers (MST). In movement literature and academic discourse, MST's formation has been consistently attributed to three factors— agricultural restructuring, political transition, and religious organization. These three factors form what I call an "Official Genesis Story." I argue that although the Official
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
An overview of social movement strategies and tactics in Latin America over the past several deca... more An overview of social movement strategies and tactics in Latin America over the past several decades.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact