Violence hidden in plain sight: pin-prick land grabbing in Romania

Abstract

The post-socialist transition in Romania has materialised in myriad factors that slowly eroded the capacity for social reproduction of rural populations. Using the concept of pin-prick land grabbing, this article draws attention to how, against the backdrop of loss of rural social fabric, unequal power dynamics among different stakeholders have led to small-scale land disputes and normalisation of extractive violence, which eventually facilitated large-scale land grabbing. By bringing to the surface these ‘hidden in plain sight’ forms of violence, the authors show the structural complexity of the phenomenon, putting forward the need for an environmental justice approach to land grabbing