Andrea Collins launches book on Gender and the Global Land Grab

SERS faculty member Dr. Andrea Collins published her first book in June 2024. The book, Gender and the Global Land Grab: A Feminist Global Governance Approach, introduces a feminist conceptual framework to analyze land governance policy around the world. Dr. Collins shows how gender norms, biases, and expectations shape land politics at different levels of governance and the implications for women in rural communities. Drawing on examples from sub-Saharan Africa and with an in-depth case study of land politics in Tanzania, the book assesses guidelines developed by institutions such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Bank to highlight essential considerations for developing and implementing gender-transformative policy.

Since the year 2000, millions of hectares of land in the Global South have been acquired by foreign investors for large-scale agricultural projects, displacing and disrupting rural communities. Women are especially disadvantaged by the global land grab: they are less likely to inherit, control, or make decisions over land, but often need land to support themselves, their families, and their communities. While international organizations have developed global guidelines to improve land governance, tensions still run high as the current policies fall short.

Illustrating how gender shapes resource policy across all levels of political activity, this work provides valuable tools for transforming global policymaking.

The Balsille School of International Affairs held a panel discussion to celebrate the book launch on November 12, 2024. Panelists included Dr. Derek Hall (WLU), Dr. Helena Shilomboleni (UWaterloo, SERS & GEM), Rachael Vriezen (PhD Candidate, BSIA/UWaterloo), and Dr. Andrea M. Collins (UWaterloo, SERS).