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The Global Land Grab, Primitive Accumulation and Accumulation by Dispossession Revisited: from conceptual tensions and debates to contradictions and crisis tendencies

Koponen, Kirsi LU (2014) SGED10 20141
Department of Human Geography
Abstract
In an attempt to understand and explain the global land grab in terms of the dynamics and contemporary transformations of capitalism, critical scholars have made extensive use of the concepts of primitive accumulation and accumulation by dispossession. Although they provide powerful insights into the phenomenon, their use is also fraught with challenges. In the absence of conceptual clarity, tensions and ambiguities over their meanings arise. There are also problematic assumptions embedded within them. The present study provides a critical review of this burgeoning conceptual debate. In so doing, it asks what can the analytical concepts of primitive accumulation and ABD give us that other concepts cannot. In search for answers, the notion... (More)
In an attempt to understand and explain the global land grab in terms of the dynamics and contemporary transformations of capitalism, critical scholars have made extensive use of the concepts of primitive accumulation and accumulation by dispossession. Although they provide powerful insights into the phenomenon, their use is also fraught with challenges. In the absence of conceptual clarity, tensions and ambiguities over their meanings arise. There are also problematic assumptions embedded within them. The present study provides a critical review of this burgeoning conceptual debate. In so doing, it asks what can the analytical concepts of primitive accumulation and ABD give us that other concepts cannot. In search for answers, the notion of capitalism as a totality is revived. The study also questions the need for defining a generic concept of capitalism-facilitating accumulation, and offers instead a pluralistic view on capitalism to better appreciate its immense creative forces and varied ways of coming into being and expanding further across space and time. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Koponen, Kirsi LU
supervisor
organization
course
SGED10 20141
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, land grabbing, capitalism, Marxist geography, totality
language
English
id
4451866
date added to LUP
2014-08-19 11:02:23
date last changed
2014-08-19 11:02:23
@misc{4451866,
  abstract     = {{In an attempt to understand and explain the global land grab in terms of the dynamics and contemporary transformations of capitalism, critical scholars have made extensive use of the concepts of primitive accumulation and accumulation by dispossession. Although they provide powerful insights into the phenomenon, their use is also fraught with challenges. In the absence of conceptual clarity, tensions and ambiguities over their meanings arise. There are also problematic assumptions embedded within them. The present study provides a critical review of this burgeoning conceptual debate. In so doing, it asks what can the analytical concepts of primitive accumulation and ABD give us that other concepts cannot. In search for answers, the notion of capitalism as a totality is revived. The study also questions the need for defining a generic concept of capitalism-facilitating accumulation, and offers instead a pluralistic view on capitalism to better appreciate its immense creative forces and varied ways of coming into being and expanding further across space and time.}},
  author       = {{Koponen, Kirsi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{The Global Land Grab, Primitive Accumulation and Accumulation by Dispossession Revisited: from conceptual tensions and debates to contradictions and crisis tendencies}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}