August 7, 2025
Call for Papers - Edited Book: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Land Use Regimes under the AfCFTA
Editors: Dr Chidebe M. Nwankwo (University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus); Dr Sikelela Ndlazi (University of South Africa, Pretoria); Professor Angelo Dube (University of South Africa, Pretoria).
Expected Year of Publication : 2026
Rationale:
The co-editors, Chidebe Nwankwo, Sikelela Ndlazi, and Angelo Dube, invite contributions to an edited volume entitled ‘Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Land Use Regumes under the AfCFTA.” The volume seeks to catalogue the prospects and challenges of extant land use regimes in African states towards actualizing the objectives of the anticipated single market. The goal of the volume is to offer fresh insight from multidisciplinary perspectives on the historical, institutional, political, and legal and policy dimensions of land and the sustainable development of the member states under the AfCFTA. The volume builds on previous literature on the subject-matter which has undertaken legal, socio-economic, historical, and other approaches towards understanding the issue of land reform on the African continent and the attendant challenges that have surrounded land use in African countries. Onoja and Achike (2015), decry the problem of land-grabbing through buying of large portions of land by investors in middle- and low-income African countries. They argue that this phenomenon is one of the manifestations of weak land use regimes on the continent. They further posit that this could be detrimental to food security, food safety, environmental safety, and peace and economic well-being of citizens. Manji (2006) explores the politics of land reform in Africa, particularly with a view to understanding the role of law in bringing about development. The author identifies the elements of a network of African land reform which includes International Financial Institutions (IFIs), international donors, African governments, legislators, non-governmental organizations, legal consultants, commercial lenders, and the judiciary as important actors in the land reform process. Furthermore, the author offers insights on how these networks are sustained. Lipton centers land reform as a critical mechanism for achieving socioeconomic equilibrium. The author makes a compelling case on the need to repurpose land reform primarily on its use as a means to achieve agricultural growth to reduce rural poverty. Improving access to land will ensure that the benefits of agricultural technical change reach many millions of rural poor. Cotula et al. (2009) observed that despite the spate of media reports and some published research, international land deals and their impacts remain little understood. Also, Cotula (2013) establishes the link between the ‘great African land grab’ under the guise of agricultural investments and the global food system. These dimensions underscore the need to continue to engage with scholarship on the effects of land reform in Africa. Other authors such as Masitera (2021), Ntsebeza & Hall (2007), and Cavanagh (2013) analyse the political issues underlying land rights and redistribution from a Southern African lenses. Mwangi (2007) offers an ecological and historical perspective on the evolution of property rights in Kenya with the Masailand as a case study. Boone (2013) analyses the relationship between how property institutions shape dynamics of great interest to scholars of politics, including the dynamics of land-related competition and conflict, territorial conflict, patron-client relations, electoral cleavage and mobilization, ethnic politics, rural rebellion, and the localization and “nationalization” of political competition. The implications of studies on land reforms and its wholesale impact on society warrants a multidisciplinary approach.
Download the complete Call for Papers here.
The editors invite interested authors to submit abstracts of 500 words summarizing the plans for their proposed chapter, including the chapter topic, methodology, and central argument. Authors can also submit copies of their chapters alongside their abstracts. Submission should be made to Chidebe Nwankwo (matthew.nwankwo@unn.edu.ng); cnplegal@outlook.com) by 30th December, 2025. Book chapters should not be longer than 6000 words in total (excluding references and bibliography).