Ewan Robinson
Ph.D. Candidate, Development Sociology, Department of Global Development
About
Ewan’s research examines land markets, land tenure institutions, and the politics of information in the context of changing agrarian livelihoods and gender relations. He employs ethnographic and participatory approaches alongside spatial and archival methods to document shifting relational and informational practices among development experts, land buyers, street-level bureaucrats, and rural women and men. Ewan’s dissertation research contributes to debates about the trajectory of land tenure systems in African settings by shedding light on what he describes as “legibility politics.” These are the ubiquitous hybrid strategies used by land-claimants, who variously combine documents, ethical claims-making, ecological management, and digital practices to make land relations more or less visible, to construct property rights, and to pursue viable rural futures. Ewan has collaborated with Tanzanian land rights organizations and community groups to produce contextualized knowledge and to advocate for just rural development policies.
Ewan’s publications include work on the relationship between social difference and the emergence of environmental identities (Geoforum), on the institutional drivers and limitations of food-based nutrition policies in global development (World Development Perspectives), and on the role of food markets in shaping nutrition outcomes (IDS Bulletin). He has also authored more than three dozen policy briefings, consultancy reports, and media pieces related to land tenure and agricultural, food, and nutrition policies and development (see ResearchGate).
Prior to coming to Cornell, Ewan served as an applied policy researcher at the Institute of Development Studies, UK, where he conducted studies on food market dynamics, public and private regulatory institutions, and access to nutrition-enhancing foods among rural and urban residents in three African countries. Ewan received an MS from the Department of Global Development at Cornell, an MA in Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a BS in Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Committee members
Interests
Land tenure systems
Agrarian change
Politics of information in rural spaces