CRPR Seminar - Farming in the shadow of violent organizations: Understanding farmers’ place shaping in socio-ecological crises

In this study, we explore how farmers develop a ‘sense of place’ in contexts of organized violence and environmental crime. Our research draws upon the rich evidence of the environmental crimes perpetrated by the Neapolitan Mafia at the expense of farmers and farming communities by contributing to illegal waste dumping and burning in the metropolitan area of Naples, Italy. This is a well-documented phenomenon, often referred to as the Land of Fires (LoF), farmers and farming communities have been subject to for more than 40 years. The LoF waste management crisis reflects the complexity of several contemporary socioecological crises where illegal and legal political, economic and social practices have intertwined and entangled over time. This is provoking a place shaping process dominated by alienation and silencing, in which farmers’ sense of place develops through social, economic and ecological relations that have been fragmented and lost, contributing to the definition of a geography of displaced individuals and communities. Using the Land of Fires as an empirical context, in this study we have developed a ‘theory-building from cases’ approach to conceptualise farmers’ socio-ecological place shaping in context of extreme precarity, marked by organized violence and environmental crimes. Our theorizing moves beyond the case and engages with the wider issue of how we ensure socio-ecological justice and fairness, and fight against extreme precarity, violent practices and organisations.