Plantation assemblages and spaces of contested development in Sierra Leone and Cambodia

Much has been written on land deals, their impact and challenges of contestation in the Global South. Multiple studies show that communities are high-spirited as long as they oppose the actual conversion of their land. My findings illustrate, however, how companies, local authorities, communities, civil society and the government mitigate conflicts, re-shape resource governance, and negotiate terms of development in operating plantations and local-global dynamics thereof. Drawing on extended ethnographic research in Cambodia and Sierra Leone between 2016 and 2018, I examine two plantation assemblages linked in time and across space. Although run by the same company, the different set-ups and sociopolitical contexts have a bearing on community resistance. Based on Nail’s assemblage framework, I start out by defining the territorial assemblages prior to the companies’ arrival. Next, I illustrate the emerging plantation assemblages’ statist and capitalist features with emphasis on the repercussions of monitoring and patronisation dynamics on the communities’ dependency and leverage. Third, I highlight the resulting differences in the communities’ struggles and the potential of emerging alliances, before concluding and reflecting on policy implications.