NAS 1
Fall 2013

Land Grabbing: United States and Latin America

UNITED STATES:

*Treaty-making era
*Indigenous sovereignty
*Johnson v. M’Intosh *Doctrine of Discovery

*Goal: LAND

*Assimilation period:
*Removal policy (1830s)
*Reservations
*Allotment: *Dawes Act/General Allotment Act, 1887
*Prohibition of Native practices *Restriction on the access of sacred sites
*Infringement on tribal sovereignty

*Termination *Indian Claims Commission Act (ICC), 1946 *Relocation *Purpose?

LATIN AMERICA: *Haciendas: Latifundios *Introduction of tropical crops *Agricultural production
*Silver mining

*Insurrection movements/Independence wars: a crucial period

*Goal: LABOR & RESOURCES

*Enclosures: commodification of human life *Karl Polanyi: The Great Transformation *Primitive accumulation *The moral economy and fictitious commodities *Precedent: English commons

*Main processes: *Missionization: congregaciones, Spanish mission system, etc. *Liberal reforms *Civil war: Guatemala *Neoliberalism

*19th century liberalism *Privatization laws *1820s-1890s *Expropriation of communal holdings: reparto *Terrenos baldíos: empty/untilled lands  pasture lands, woodlands, forests, etc. *Modernization/civilization projects *Communications infrastructure, forestry industry, commercialization of agriculture *Coffee production, henequen plantations, cattle-ranching

*Neoliberalism *Reversal of land reforms *World Bank market-oriented land reforms
*Land reform as a top-down approach *e.g.: Article 27: LAND *Neo-latifundismo: corporations *Land privatization, food production, food-market speculation, export & import of commodities *Corporate agreements: North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 1994 *Land-titling and financial support programs

*Challenges: *World Bank *Communal conflicts *Land encroachment *Narco-trafficking/Organized crime *Conservation policies *e.g. Agro-forestry sector

Conservation, Development, and Environmental Racism:

*Reciprocity and gift economies *To give, to receive, to reciprocate

*Relationality:
*Rights & responsibilities
*Recognition of land as a living entity
*Kinship
*Cultural health: balance & harmony
*Land as