Philosophiae Doctor - PhD (Land and Agrarian Studies)
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Item Generational dynamics of commercial farming in highland Kenya(University of the Western Cape, 2024) Hakizimana, CyriaqueDebates on the role of commercial farming as a key driver for agrarian change are well established in the agrarian scholarly field. however, they tend to focus on the class and gender dimensions. generational aspects of commercial farming and their implications for rural livelihoods for young people are neglected in this vast literature. this dissertation seeks to fill this gap. it seeks to understand drivers that shape inclusion in and exclusion from commercial farming, outcomes for rural youth, their responses, and how they are gendered. the research presented in this dissertation was conducted in timau region of meru county in kenya. timau was one of the 237 settlement schemes that formed part of the kenyatta-era public schemes programme known as the “million-acre settlement scheme” that redistributed formerly european-owned large-scale capitalist farms to develop a smallholder agricultural sector in kenya. intersecting dynamics of generation, gender, and class determine who has access to agrarian resources, and who benefits from them. this dissertation argues that the limitation of young people’s access to agrarian resources is linked with generational dynamics in land acquisition within the household. the interplay of these factors creates processes of unequal gender and generational distribution of agrarian resources. the youth land scarcity identified in this dissertation, therefore, is proposed to be generationally manufactured to shield and protect the patriarchs’ own socio-economic benefits from commercial farming. generation, gender, and class social relations are important composite elements of the generationally manufactured land scarcity, and their intersection determines the form of young people’s inclusion in or exclusion from commercial farming.Item Blue economy investments and injustices around marine protected areas: The case of Mtwara Coast, Tanzania(University of the Western Cape, 2024) Mtui, Rose Sallema; Isaacs, MoeniebaThis thesis explores Blue Economy investments and injustices around marine protected areas. It examines whether fishing communities are gaining or losing from investments in the marine park areas; and unpacks the dilemmas that authorities face when they promote investments while protecting communities’ livelihoods at the same time. The study futher assesses the role of the state in supporting communities’ livelihoods. The thesis draws on the literature on the political ecology of natural resource governance and blue and green economies. It expands the scholarly debates around the logic behind blue economy, and its impacts on fishing communities’ livelihoods and the environment at large. It locates its discussion on Harvey’s theorisation of the accumulation by dispossession (AbD) and on Issa Shivji’s articulations of AbD and displacement. Several conceptual insights including governmentality, displacement, livelihood and vulnerability, local livelihoods (referring to Dorward’ aspirations), criminalisation of livelihood and ecological crisis are used to explain the logic behind blue economy in Mtwara, Tanzania and how investment activities impact communities’ livelihoods and the environment. It highlights the current blue injustice work and debates on blue economy which are deeply embedded in neo-liberal policies that explain pathways of resource use and communities’ livelihoods.