An Elusive Common: Land, Politics, and Agrarian Rurality in a Moroccan Oasis

An Elusive Common explores the complexities of rural life in southeastern Morocco, questioning the assumptions underlying movements for land and food sovereignty and proposing a new approach to agrarian practice and politics. It highlights the resilience of rural peoples and their creative strategies to sustain communal governance and autonomy against external pressures.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 15 July 2021
Publisher: Cornell University Press

In her book, An Elusive Common, Karen Rignall delves into the intricate dynamics of rural life in the arid periphery of southeastern Morocco. She explores the challenges faced by agrarian livelihoods in the context of globalized capitalism and proposes a fresh perspective on agrarian practice, politics, and land in North Africa and the Middle East. Rignall's book challenges numerous assumptions underlying movements for land and food sovereignty, theories of the commons, and environmental governance.

The pressures on contemporary rural life are unprecedented, driven by global market forces, government disinvestment, political marginalization, and climate change. At the same time, rural communities are resiliently resisting their exclusion by creating new economic and political opportunities. In southern Morocco, the vitality of rural life was upheld through innovative and often contentious efforts to maintain communal governance, particularly over land, as a foundation for agrarian livelihoods and a shifting wage labor economy.

An Elusive Common ethnographically documents these diverse strategies, highlighting how land became a focal point for conflicts over community, political authority, and social hierarchy. Rignall makes a provocative argument that land enclosures can play a crucial role in communal governance and the struggle for autonomy against intrusive state power and historical inequalities.

Through her insightful analysis, Rignall offers a valuable contribution to our understanding of rural life and the complexities of contemporary agrarian systems. Her book sheds light on the potential for alternative approaches to land management and governance that prioritize community well-being and autonomy.

Weight: 28g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501756122