LANDac Conference 2018: Land Governance and (Im)mobility

Exploring the nexus between land acquisition, displacement and migration

LANDac is now accepting submissions for Annual International Conference 2018! Submissions will be accepted until 11 February 2018.

LANDac’s Annual International Conference 2018 will look at land investments through the lens of mobility. What are the implications of land based investments on the movements of people? And how have displacement and population movements contributed to new and contesting land claims?

The 2018 conference takes this land-mobilities nexus as a starting point, focusing on the extent to which land acquisitions trigger the inflow or outflow of particular groups of people – and also yield other mobilities (capital, goods, ideas etc.) and land claims. Providing people with secure and equal access to land is fundamental in giving people the ‘right to remain’, but land acquisitions simultaneously contribute to evictions and displacements, and the resettlement of groups. Up to now, the discussion has focused on respecting land rights, informing the local inhabitants in advance, and, in the case of forced displacement, offering fair compensation.

Given the variety of mobilities, what are good ways forward in land governance?  To what extent can land governance contribute to inclusive development – preventing eviction and displacement, while supporting vulnerable groups to settle in safe places and build secure and sustainable livelihoods? How can property regimes (and ideas of fixing people to the land) move along with these changes and be made more suitable? How do economic transformations – value chain integration, market liberalization or reregulation – affect the ability of rural people to make a living on their lands? What do we know about the stability of ´foreign´ investor communities – and what are the implications of their land investments for the mobility and immobility of local communities? And what is the role of migrants who themselves invest in land – and who are sometimes powerful actors in land-related negotiations that might disadvantage others?

We invite proposals tackling these questions on the relation between land governance and mobility by covering topics including:

• Large scale investment in land for food security
• Urbanization and infrastructure development
• Climate change
• Conflict induced displacement and competing claims
• Development induced eviction and displacement
• Resettlement, migration and mobility
• Cities and urban expansion
• Inclusive development and land in the Sustainable Development Goals
• Right to leave and right to stay
• Land governance and social justice
• Land administration and technologies

Abstracts on other, related topics will also be considered.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Abstracts of a maximum of 300 words must be submitted, in English, via email to: landac2018@gmail.com. Word format is preferred – in the document, please include only:

• The title of the submission
• The name of the presenting author(s)
• The affiliation and email address of presenting author(s)
• The abstract text

To submit a panel proposal, please send a panel outline (following the abstract guidelines) plus the names of at least 4 panellists and the working titles of their contributions.

PhD students are invited to present a poster of their research and LANDac also welcomes other innovative and original ideas. So, if you have other suggestions for materials to present or exhibit at the conference – such as short films, interactive websites, photos, posters – please contact the organisers at the above address.

An impartial selection committee will review submissions. Successful applicants will be notified by 11 March 2018.

Submissions which do not follow these guidelines will not be considered.

The conference will be followed by the Annual LANDac and Utrecht University Summer School Land Governance for Development which will take place in Utrecht from the 2^nd to the 13^thJuly 2018.

Please note, registration for the conference will open in early March. Please check back for more information then!