Legitimizing land grabs in a digital age

Abstract

In this commentary, I respond to Riding and Dahlman’s call to counter land grabs rooted in terra nullius claims. While this cyber-spatial montage provides a richly layered account of the representational dynamics and performative practices of a self-proclaimed country, I argue that the authors’ more-than-human theorization dilutes rather than sharpens their critical edge. Landscapes and natural resources have certain materialities that shape their governance, but Riding and Dahlman's invocation of ‘more-than-human geographies of responsibility against alt-right libertarianism, Balkanism, and imperialist imaginaries’ downplays the onus of responsibility on humans to prevent land grabs and mitigate their socioecological consequences.