This collection critically examines the nature and extent of land grabbing in Southeast Asia, and seeks to locate this phenomena in broader agrarian and environmental transitions (AET). The chapters originally published as a special issue in The Journal of Peasant Studies.

Peter Vandergeest is a Professor of Geography at York University, Canada. His research over the past 30 years has focused on agrarian and environmental transformations in Southeast Asia, and has encompassed attention to forests, agriculture, aquaculture and, most recently, fisheries.

Laura Schoenberger is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography at York University, Canada. Her research interests are in political ecology, agrarian transformations, state power, conflict and land. She is currently completing her dissertation on land control and property formation in the context of large-scale land acquisitions and recent state efforts to redistribute land in Cambodia.

1. What happened when the land grab came to Southeast Asia? Laura Schoenberger, Derek Hall and Peter Vandergeest 2. Tapping into rubber: China's opium replacement program and rubber production in Laos Juliet N. Lu 3. From land grab to agrarian transition? Hybrid trajectories of accumulation and environmental change on the Cambodia-Vietnam border Alice Beban and Timothy Gorman 4. The political ecology of cross-sectoral cumulative impacts: modern landscapes, large hydropower dams and industrial tree plantations in Laos and Cambodia Ian G. Baird and Keith Barney 5. Land control dynamics and social-ecological transformations in upland Philippines Marvin Joseph F. Montefrio 6. Recognition through reconnaissance? Using drones for counter-mapping in Indonesia Irendra Radjawali, Oliver Pye and Michael Flitner 7. Plantations and mines: resource frontiers and the politics of the smallholder slot Nancy Lee Peluso 8. Struggling against excuses: winning back land in Cambodia Laura Schoenberger 9. Smallholder bargaining power in large-scale land deals: a relational perspective Rosanne Rutten, Laurens Bakker, Maria Lisa Alano, Tania Salerno, Laksmi A. Savitri and Mohamad Shohibuddin 10. The return of the plantation? Historical and contemporary trends in the relation between plantations and smallholdings in Southeast Asia Jean-François Bissonnette and Rodolphe De Koninck 11. Alternatives to land grabbing: exploring conditions for smallholder inclusion in agricultural commodity chains in Southeast Asia Rob Cramb, Vongpaphane Manivong, Jonathan C. Newby, Kem Sothorn and Patrick S. Sibat