Graduation Date
6-2011
Document Type
Thesis
Department/Program Conferring Degree
International Studies
Keywords
Garifuna, Honduras, African Palm, dispossession, afro-indigeneity
Abstract
This thesis seeks to connect the Honduran state’s need for capital accumulation, it’s almost myopic focus on agro-industrialization and dispossessing Garífuna from lands valued for African palm production, and finally how the Garífuna have been able to effectively resist the state’s attempts to take Garífuna lands by force. One company in particular, the Dinant Corporation, poses the greatest threat to Garífuna communities in the remote Honduran territories of Atlántida and Colón. Dinant Corporation, owned entirely by Miguel Facussé, is a large commercial producer and processor of African palm in Honduras. The company is the largest and fastest gorwing African palm producer in Honduras. In order to expand so quickly, Facussé expropriated thousands of hectares of Garífuna lands in the Garífuna territories in Atlántida and Colón. The state has supported Facusse by providing troops, financing Facusse's expansion, and dispossessing the Garífuna from their lands. However, some Garífuna have been effective in protesting land expropriation and have even successfully reclaimed lands that commercial African palm producers had taken from the Garífuna communities. This project provides a close examination of how the state and African palm producers have worked in violent ways to expand the African palm industry and how the Garífuna have resisted expropriation of their lands.
Recommended Citation
Jung, Laura, "African palm and Afro-indigenous resistance: Race and dispossession of Garifuna lands on Honduras' northern coast" (2011). College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 84.
https://via.library.depaul.edu/etd/84