De Grassi, Aharon

Lecturer, Department of Geography and Urban & Regional Planning

Education

PhD, Geography, University of California, Berkeley

MPhil, Development Studies, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

BA, Development Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Bio

I am an inter-disciplinary geographer working on the political economy of rural development in Africa. My interests are in agrarian studies, political ecology, and development studies. My current book project Rebuilding Angola focuses on oil-fuelled post-war reconstruction, particularly infrastructure linking rural and urban areas. I have also conducted research on and fieldwork in various other countries during my twenty years of experience with a range of institutions. I am interested in the geographical ways that states and societies interrelate, and how those interrelations shape hunger, poverty and practical opportunities for broadly improving people’s well-being.

Recent Publications

(2019) ‘Monumental Relations: Connecting Memorials and Conversations in Rural and Urban Malanje, Angola,’ Kronos: Southern African Histories (Cape Town) 45(1): 17-45, https://doi.org/10.17159/2309-9585/2019/v45a2

(2018) ‘Beyond Gatekeeper Spatial Metaphors of the State in Africa: Relational Geo-Histories of Angola,’ Third World Thematics 3(3): 398-418, https://doi.org/10.1080/23802014.2018.1466660

(2018) ‘Changing Paths and Histories: Mapping Pre-Colonial Connections in Africa,’ Radical History Review 131 (May): 169-175, https://doi.org/10.1215/01636545-4355305

(2017) ‘Trajectories of Large-Scale Land Acquisition Dynamics in Angola: History, Diversity, and Policy Implications for the Political Economy of Development in Africa,’ Land Use Policy 67 (Sept): 115-125, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.05.032