Deadline: 8 December 2017
The Institure for Poverty, Land and Agrarial Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Caoe, in partnership with Rosa Luxemburg Stiftug (RLS), has announced a call for participation in an innovative new venture. This call is open to scholars and activists with a focus on young people based in Southern African countries who have grounding in rural politics.
This call is part of a larger, international initiative: The Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative. Young scholars and activists in other regions of the world will also be preparing for the global convening event in The Hague in March 2018.
Objectives
- Engaging young scholar-activists in envisioning emancipatory approaches on rural politics
- Partnerships between activists and researchers who can collaborate on papers reflecting on rural politics are specifically encouraged
- Spreading critical analysis on key food and agrarian questions, using the ICAS “small book on big ideas” series
- Offer a starting point for young scholar-activists to interact with rural social movements
Thematic Focus
PLAAS invites proposals for papers – which can be co-authored by activists and scholars – on these themes:
- The current conjuncture: an analysis of political realities, rural structures and socio-economic conjunctures in the respective region
- Resistance and alternatives: identify emancipatory strategies, projects and policy concepts, and agrarian alternatives in theory and practice, including in the food system.
Grant Information
PLAAS is offering modest small grants of:
- R30,000 South African Rand to write up a case study of 20-30 pages,
- Participation in a workshop in South Africa on 26-27 February 2018 and
- Attend and contribute to a global conference in The Hague, Netherlands, 17-18 March 2018.
Activities
- Small grants program will foster new research from diverse settings, on the specific and general dimensions of the current moment, the nature of resistance to extraction and inequality, and the possibility for new sorts of emancipatory politics.
- The Southern Africa workshop will bring together about 25 young scholar-activists from the region. “Scholar activists” is meant in a broad sense, including university researchers as well as well as young leaders in social movements, unions, and young people working in progressive NGOs, especially those between 18 and 35 years old.
- Conference will bring together a range of scholars, activists and practitioners and will help to build and sustain a global network focused on changes in rural life, politics and livelihoods in the current moment.
- Networking, documentation and activism following the conference will focus on enabling scholar-activist networks to expand and gain traction, through exchange visits, publications, and networking platforms.
How to Apply
Proposals must be submitted at the address given on the website.
For more information, visit http://www.plaas.org.za/news/call-participation-global-emancipatory-rural-politics-initiative