Benegiamo Land, Capital and Extractive Frontiers

Social Conflict and Ecological Crisis in the Senegal River Delta
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-5292-3783-2
Verlag: Bristol University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 152 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Alternatives to Capitalism in the 21st Century

This book examines ‘land-grabbing’ - its colonial roots and the fraught relationship between capital and nature amidst the current global socio-ecological crisis.

Through ethnographic and archival research, Maura Benegiamo investigates an Italian company’s acquisition of 20,000 hectares in Senegal’s River Delta for agrofuel production and delves into the struggles of pastoral communities affected by the project. Through this landmark case, the book shows how European energy and global food security policies are reshaping rural spaces, expanding agrarian extractivism in sub-Saharan Africa.

By shedding light on how contemporary capital–nature relationships perpetuate socio-ecological crises and colonial models, the book highlights the enduring forms of opposition to these processes. At the heart of these struggles lies a crucial question: how can we understand today’s crises while reclaiming alternative ways of living, producing and inhabiting the land?

Autoren/Hrsg.

Benegiamo, Maura

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Entwicklungspolitik, Nord-Süd Beziehungen
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Internationale Wirtschaft Entwicklungsökonomie & Emerging Markets
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Globalisierung, Transformationsprozesse
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgements

Preface by Luigi Pellizzoni

Introduction

Colonial Fractures and Margins of Resistance

Understanding Land Grabbing: Capital, Development and the Ecological Crisis

Part 1: New Frontiers, Ancient Margins

1. Farming Sunflowers in the Ndiael reserve

2. Ecology and Politics of Pastoralism in the Senegal River Delta

3. Pastoral Trajectories in the Delta

Part 2: Africa, the World's Breadbasket?

4. The Race for Land and the New Extractivisms

5. Food Security, A Market Paradigm

6. From Food Security to Global Food Security

Part 3: Development Narratives

7. Land Grabbing and Development in Post-Colonial Senegal

8. Italy Seeks Land in Senegal

9. An Emblematic Failure: The Senhuile-Senethanol project

Part 4: Conflicts in Extractive Territories

10. Implications and Impact of Agroindustry

11. We are here for the development of Senegal’, the Senhuille’s social responsibility

12. Freeing our gaze

Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Benegiamo, Maura
Maura Benegiamo is an associate researcher in economic and labour sociology at the University of Pisa. She has conducted research and consultant activities across Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America, focusing on environmental conflicts, natural resource extraction, and agrarian development. Her research interests center on the transformations of capitalism, labour, and neoliberal governance within the context of the ecological crisis, with particular attention to extractivism, the role of techno-scientific innovation, political ecology, and decolonial struggles. Her work has been published in various international scientific journals, and she is the creator of the documentary Progreso7: Oro, armas y resistencia (Guatemala-France, 2012), which documents resistance movements against large-scale mining in Guatemala.

Maura Benegiamo is Assistant Professor in Economic and Labour Sociology at the University of Pisa. She has conducted research and consultant activities across Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America, focusing on environmental conflicts, natural resource extraction, and agrarian development. Her work has been published in various international scientific journals, and she is the creator of the documentary Progreso7, which documents resistance movements against large-scale mining in Guatemala.