‘An exceptionally important book, which will have an important and influential audience amongst scholar-activists engaged with land and agrarian issues worldwide.’
Ian Scoones, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

‘You’ll hear the term ‘instant classic’ used to refer to Borras and Franco’s profound meditation on the role of academics working with movements for agrarian change. It’s true that this short book will immediately and deservedly become part of the critical agrarian studies canon, but it’s also a work that’s far from instant. It draws on decades of combined scholarship and activism, at the highest levels and with the highest stakes. The result is a distillation of two lifetimes’ work, in a few powerful, memorable pages. I wish I’d had it at the start of my career, but it’ll never be too late to reflect on the ideas in Scholar-Activism and Land Struggles.’
Raj Patel, University of Texas at Austin

‘With an expansive historical and intellectual framing, and animated with proximate examples, Jun and Jenny capture the real difficulties and tensions, but also the potency, of scholar-activism - and how it can, and does, strengthen agrarian struggles. I cannot think of people better placed to guide, and challenge, us to build this praxis.’
Ruth Hall, PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town

‘This book has been much needed for decades and it is a relief to have it now. It is the most serious discussion of scholar-activism that I know of, addressing its aspirations, limitations and contradictions. It does so in a solid and convincing way that reflects the life-long engagement and experiences of the authors who have ample experience in critically connecting knowledge institutions, international networks and radical agrarian movements.’
Jan Douwe van der Ploeg, author, The New Peasantries

‘Using lucid language, this book takes us through contentious history and present of agrarian political struggles, offering a principled and yet inclusive understanding. Students and activists working for social justice and for a non-capitalist future would find this book to be both an inspiring mentor and an impassioned friend.’
Yan Hairong, Tsinghua University, Beijing

‘This book presents a rich history of sustained engagement with (agrarian) social movements by two “critically engaged” scholar-activists. It is a tour de force at the intersection of scholar-activism and land struggles. Students, academics, and activists interested in the dynamics of agrarian politics in the Global South should read this book.’
Walter Chambati, Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies

‘This book is about the ways in which engaged scholarship and practical politics shape each other, and about the contradictions, tensions, and conflicts therein involved. But it is much more: a powerful reflection on the politics of land and the role that both theory and practice have in achieving a more just world. It is a gift for anyone interested in agrarian justice.’
Diana Ojeda, La Universidad de los Andes, Bogota

‘Jenny and Jun have an amazing ability to talk as academics and activists and challenge both in a comradely way. They manage to push us to think beyond concepts, imagination and beliefs towards the radical ideas that are needed and urgent to transform this society into a more just and sustainable one.’
Lyda Fernanda, Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA)

‘A deeply inspiring book that sets the ground for a movement of scholar-activists. While profoundly rooted in agrarian issues, this book is also of tremendous value for environmental justice scholars, degrowth proponents and many more striving not only to better understand but also to transform the contemporary social and environmental challenges of our world.’
Arnim Scheidel, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, (ICTA-UAB), Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona

‘Borras and Franco blend their extensive field and institutional experiences in a deliberative ethical guide for scholar-activists engaging with agrarian and urban land movements, and a corporate academy. This watershed monograph offers two fundamental directives: recognizing historically contextual experiences of specific agrarian communities as critical to the knowledge politics of movement struggles; and, reappraising the methodological implications of ongoing capitalist transformations of agrarian worlds, with diversified property relations threatening human and producer-labor rights in an ecologically challenged era. The authors provide a powerful and timely intervention regarding the global recasting of landscapes of contention and the domain of agrarian studies.’
Philip McMichael, Cornell University and author of Food Regimes and Agrarian Questions

‘The authors unpack the role of the scholar-activist, the critical contributions they can make to movements, and the tensions, risks, challenges and pitfalls of their work… The book is a guide for all of those who believe that the point of knowledge is to change the world for the better, and who strive to live their lives according to that commitment.’
Pietje Vervest, Hamza Hamouchene, and Katie Sandwell, Transnational Institute

Saturnino M. Borras Jr.

International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Hague 

Jennifer C. Franco

Transnational Institute, Amsterdam