| Food security is often misunderstood: overlooked in security studies and essentialized as a biological and nutritional issue, or as simply supply not matching demand. Yet, food security rests on underlying social and political questions of power, entitlement, distribution, and access within the food system and land tenure. This dissertation seeks to unearth these underlying social and political questions by examining how external large-scale land acquisitions affect food security and land tenure in the developing African state. This dissertation argues that external large-scale land acquisitions have a primarily negative impact on both food security and land tenure. Findings from the cases of Tanzania and Ethiopia show that large-scale land acquisitions maintain a system of social, political, and economic entitlements that foster uneven structures that result in low levels of food security and access to land. |
