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Melanie Sommerville

melanie

Melanie Sommerville is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests concern the international political economy of farmland investment and large-scale agricultural development projects. Melanie has undertaken preliminary research on a large corporate investment and farming venture on First Nations (indigenous) land on the Canadian Prairies and plans to undertake further comparative work for her dissertation. She is also interested in the way the “farmland grab” is conceptualized in academic and policy literature and the implications of this for affected communities and for critical scholarship.

Email: melanie.sommerville@remove-this.geog.ubc.ca

Research on Land-grabbing:

Land grabbing in the North?: the case of One Earth Farms (OEF) in Canada

This study examines One Earth Farms (OEF), a large agricultural investment project located on First Nations (indigenous) land on the Canadian prairies. It explores how participation in OEF might further or hinder First Nations’ political self-determination objectives. By examining the intersection of OEF with First Nations’ land claims and political institutions, the research draws attention to the relevance of the ‘global land grab’ for marginalized populations in the global North. Moreover, it highlights the articulations of agricultural investment projects with indigenous politics, a topic of relevance to many areas globally.