Experts, land regimes and the politics of mapping

Abstract

Agrarian experts are involved in multiple processes of agrarian change, and shape the rural development programs and policies that influence rural social structures. Recent land-grabbing debates have frequently disregarded how expert knowledge and land surveyors’ practices have fostered the transformation of regimes of land control, access and ownership. This text scrutinizes the role of agrarian experts on land regime transformation by analyzing the impact of contemporary mapping politics on the commodification and alienation of land by corporate and state actors. Then, a more in-depth critical research on the role of agrarian experts within critical agrarian studies is claimed.