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Land Deals, Wage Labour, and Everyday Politics

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  • Adwoa Yeboah Gyapong

    (International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, 2518 AX The Hague, The Netherlands)

Abstract

This article explores the question of political struggles for inclusion on an oil palm land deal in Ghana. It examines the employment dynamics and the everyday politics of rural wage workers on a transnational oil palm plantation which is located in a predominantly migrant and settler society where large-scale agricultural production has only been introduced within the past decade. It shows that, by the nature of labour organization, as well as other structural issues, workers do not benefit equally from their work on plantations. The main form of farmworkers’ political struggles in the studied case has been the ‘everyday forms of resistance’ against exploitation and for better terms of incorporation. Particularly, they express agency through acts such as absenteeism and non-compliance, as well as engaging in other productive activities which enable them to maintain their basic food sovereignty/security. Nonetheless, their multiple and individualized everyday politics are not necessarily changing the structure of social relations associated with capitalist agriculture. Overall, this paper contributes to the land grab literature by providing context specific dynamics of the impacts of, and politics around land deals, and how they are shaped by a multiplicity of factors-beyond class.

Suggested Citation

  • Adwoa Yeboah Gyapong, 2019. "Land Deals, Wage Labour, and Everyday Politics," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(6), pages 1-21, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:6:p:94-:d:239588
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bablu Chakma, 2023. "Everyday Politics of Dadan Contracts in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(1), pages 143-167, January.
    2. Tamura, Yu, 2021. "Contexts behind differentiated responses to contract farming and large-scale land acquisitions in Central Mozambique: Post-war experiences, social relations, and power balance of local authorities," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    3. Graf, Sarah Lena & Oya, Carlos, 2021. "Is the system of rice intensification (SRI) pro poor? Labour, class and technological change in West Africa," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    4. Gyapong, Adwoa Yeboah, 2020. "How and why large scale agricultural land investments do not create long-term employment benefits: A critique of the ‘state’ of labour regulations in Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Nanhthavong, Vong & Bieri, Sabin & Nguyen, Anh-Thu & Hett, Cornelia & Epprecht, Michael, 2022. "Proletarianization and gateways to precarization in the context of land-based investments for agricultural commercialization in Lao PDR," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    6. Fonjong, Lotsmart N & Gyapong, Adwoa Y, 2021. "Plantations, women, and food security in Africa: Interrogating the investment pathway towards zero hunger in Cameroon and Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

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