College of Humanities and Social Sciences staff

Dr Alice Beban staff profile picture

Contact details +6469516851

Dr Alice Beban PhD

Senior Lecturer

Doctoral Supervisor
School of People, Environment and Planning

Alice Beban holds a PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University (New York), and a Masters in Development Studies from Massey. Her research addresses land rights, agricultural production and gender concerns to understand people's changing relationships with land. Recent research investigates ‘land grabs’ and redistributive land reform in Cambodia, cross-border migration of smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia, organic rice production, and methodological approaches in feminist political ecology. She also works with community activist groups in Cambodia to strengthen people’s access to land, and previously worked with Global Focus Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (Cambodia).

Professional

Contact details

  • Ph: +64 (09) 414 0800 ext. 49109
    Location: AT3.59, Atrium Building
    Campus: Albany

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy - Cornell University (2017)

Certifications and Registrations

  • Licence, Supervisor, Massey University

Research Expertise

Research Interests

Agrarian studies

Political Ecology

Feminist theory 

International development

Cambodia 

Southeast Asia

Rural sociology

Land reform 

Natural resource conflict

Thematics

21st Century Citizenship, Resource Development and Management, Future Food Systems

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Environmental Politics (160605): Environmental Sociology (160802): Gender Specific Studies (169901): Human Geography (160400): Other Studies in Human Society (169900): Political Science (160600): Rural Sociology (160804): Social Change (160805): Sociological Methodology and Research Methods (160807): Sociology (160800): Studies In Human Society (160000)

Keywords

Agrarian studies

Feminist Political Ecology

Cambodia 

Southeast Asia

Rural sociology

Land reform 

Resource conflict

Research Projects

Summary of Research Projects

Position Current Completed
Project Leader 2 8

Current Projects

Project Title: Resisting resource grabs: Understanding emotions in environmental conflict in the Mekong River Basin

Resource grabs are threatening people and ecologies across the Mekong region, yet deepening authoritarianism is stoking fear amongst civil society groups about the dangers of resistance. Political ecology’s traditional focus on the material dimensions of environmental conflict cannot fully explain how power operates and why people resist. This project breaks new ground by examining the centrality of emotions to projects of state making and resistance across scale. The research will explore how emotions emerge in and inform place-based resource struggles and how they translate across scales in regional collective responses. It will illuminate how emotions facilitate social and ecological change.
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Date Range: 2023 - 2026

Funding Bodies: Marsden Fund - Full; Royal Society of New Zealand

Project Team:

Research Outputs

Journal

Chann, S., Beban, A., Flaim, A., Gorman, T., & Vouch, LL. (2024). Disorientations: The Political Ecology of “Displacing” Floating Communities from Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake. Antipode.
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, A., & Bourke Martignoni, J. (2024). The lucky and unlucky daughter: Gender, land inheritance and agrarian change in Ratanakiri, Cambodia. Journal of Agrarian Change.
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Ehrensperger, A., Nanhthavong, V., Beban, A., Gironde, C., Diepart, JC., Scurrah, N., . . . Ingalls, M. (2024). The agrarian transition in the Mekong Region: pathways towards sustainable land systems. Journal of Land Use Science. 19(1), 1-23
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, A., & Roberts, G. (2024). Fair but not Equal: Negotiating the Division of Unpaid Labour in Same-Sex Couples in Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 20(1), 74-91
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Hett, C., Aye, ZC., Gironde, C., Beban, A., Castella, JC., Bernhard, R., . . . Ehrensperger, A. (2023). Agroecological initiatives in the Mekong Region: a systematic literature review and mapping reveals their implications for transitioning to sustainable food systems. Journal of Land Use Science. 18(1), 334-355
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Aston, S., Beban, A., & Walters, V. (2023). Policing freedom campers: the place, class, and xenophobic dynamics of overtourism in Aotearoa New Zealand. Tourism Geographies. 25(6), 1534-1554
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A., Walters, V.
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Beban, A. (2023). Entrepreneurial Women in a Saturated Marketplace: How Gendered Power Shapes Experiences of Debt in Rural Cambodia. Journal of Contemporary Asia.
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, A., & Banks, G. (2023). Institutions, governance and extractives: Where politics and ecologies collide. Extractive Industries and Society. 15
[Journal article]Authored by: Banks, G., Beban, A.
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Diepart, JC., Scurrah, N., Beban, A., Gironde, C., & Campbell, NY. (2023). The recognition and formalization of customary tenure in the forest landscapes of the Mekong region: a Polanyian perspective. Journal of Land Use Science. 18(1), 211-226
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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3
Beban, A., & Gironde, C. (2023). Surviving cassava: smallholder farmer strategies for coping with market volatility in Cambodia. Journal of Land Use Science. 18(1), 109-127
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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2
Nguyen, AT., Oya, C., Beban, A., Gironde, C., Cole, R., & Ehrensperger, A. (2023). Agricultural commercialization in the Mekong region: A meta-narrative review and policy implications. Journal of Land Use Science. 18(1), 128-151
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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3
Korson, C., Beban, A., Ashley, N., & Stanley, R. (2022). The Spatial Awareness Project: A Co-Created Interdisciplinary Educational Film and Podcast. Geohumanities. 8(2), 620-629
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Nguyen, P., Scheyvens, R., Beban, A., & Gardyne, S. (2022). From a Distance: The ‘New Normal’ for Researchers and Research Assistants Engaged in Remote Fieldwork. International Journal of Qualitative Methods. 21, 1-13
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A., Leonard, S., Scheyvens, R.
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5
Palatchie, B., Beban, A., & Andersen, B. (2022). The myth of medical multiculturalism: how social closure marginalises traditional Chinese medicine in New Zealand. Health Sociology Review. 31(3), 262-277
[Journal article]Authored by: Andersen, B., Beban, A.
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6
Beban, A., & Bourke Martignoni, J. (2021). “Now the Forest Is Over”: Transforming the Commons and Remaking Gender in Cambodia's Uplands. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 5
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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9
Lorkuangming, V., Beban, A., & Stewart-Withers, R. (2021). Exploring men’s involvement in family planning in Lao PDR. Development in Practice. 31(8), 1083-1095
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A., Stewart-Withers, R.
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Schoenberger, L., & Beban, A. (2021). Rupturing violent land imaginaries: finding hope through a land titling campaign in Cambodia. Agriculture and Human Values. 38(1), 301-312
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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5
1
Beban, A., Schoenberger, L., & Lamb, V. (2020). Pockets of liberal media in authoritarian regimes: what the crackdown on emancipatory spaces means for rural social movements in Cambodia<sup>*</sup>. Journal of Peasant Studies. 47(1), 95-115
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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9
Beban, A., & Schoenberger, L. (2019). Fieldwork undone: Knowing Cambodia's land grab through affective encounters. ACME. 18(1), 77-103
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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13
Beban, A., & Trueman, N. (2018). Student workers: The unequal load of paid and unpaid work in the neoliberal university. New Zealand Sociology. 33(2), 99-131
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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10
Murray, M., Beban, A., & Walters, V. (2018). Editorial. New Zealand Sociology. 33(2), 1-7
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A., Walters, V.
Schoenberger, L., & Beban, A. (2018). “They Turn Us into Criminals”: Embodiments of Fear in Cambodian Land Grabbing. Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 108(5), 1338-1353
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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20
Beban, A., & Gorman, T. (2017). From land grab to agrarian transition? Hybrid trajectories of accumulation and environmental change on the Cambodia–Vietnam border. Journal of Peasant Studies. 44(4), 842-862
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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15
Schoenberger, L., & Beban, A. (2017). What is academic research on the Cambodian frontier?. Critical Asian Studies. 49(3), 437-440
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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3
Beban, A., So, S., & Un, K. (2017). From Force to Legitimation: Rethinking Land Grabs in Cambodia. Development and Change. 48(3), 590-612
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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27
Work, C., & Beban, A. (2016). Mapping the srok: The mimeses of land titling in Cambodia. Sojourn. 31(1), 37-80
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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17
Gorman, T., & Beban, A. (2016). Of migrants and middlemen: Cultivating access and challenging exclusion along the Vietnam–Cambodia border. Asia Pacific Viewpoint. 57(2), 207-220
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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5
Beban, AB. (2014). Is organic agriculture a viable strategy in contexts of rapid agrarian transition?. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development. 4(2), 131-147
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, A., & Work, C. (2014). The spirits are crying: Dispossessing land and possessing bodies in rural Cambodia. Antipode. 46(3), 593-610
[Journal article]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Book

Beban, A., & Hak, S. (2023). The role of emotions in resistance movements against land and resource grabs: New evidence from Cambodia. In Routledge Handbook of Global Land and Resource Grabbing. (pp. 444 - 458).
[Chapter]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, A., & Martignoni, JB. (2022). Social security in the extractive state: Gender, land inheritance, and agrarian change in Ratanakiri, Cambodia. In Agricultural Commercialization, Gender Equality and the Right to Food: Insights from Ghana and Cambodia. (pp. 204 - 222).
[Chapter]Authored by: Beban, A.
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2
Beban, A.(2021). Unwritten Rule: State-Making through Land Reform in Cambodia. New York, United States of America: Cornell University Press
[Authored Book]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, A., & Gorman, T. (2019). From land grab to agrarian transition?. In P. Vandergeest, & L. Schoenberger (Eds.) De-centring Land Grabbing Southeast Asia Perspectives on Agrarian-Environmental Transformations. : Routledge
[Chapter]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Pou, S., & Beban, A. (2018). Human Security Problems in Cambodia: Far from Over. In Y. Mine, OA. Gómez, & A. Muto (Eds.) Human Security Norms in East Asia. (pp. 23 - 44). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan
[Chapter]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, AB. (2014). How the leopard got its spots: Gender dimensions of land reform in Cambodia. ,Tokyo, Japan: Tokyo Foundation
[Scholarly edition]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, AB. (2012). The politics of wellbeing in international development: Research with organic farmers in Cambodia. In H. Selin, & G. Davey (Eds.) Happiness Across Cultures. (pp. 149 - 165). Netherlands: Springer
[Chapter]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Thesis

Beban, AB. (2017). Unwritten rule(s): Uncertain statemaking on Cambodia's land frontier. (Doctoral Thesis, Cornell University) Beban, AB. (2017). Unwritten rule(s): Uncertain statemaking on Cambodia's land frontier. (Doctoral Thesis)
[Doctoral Thesis]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Report

Beban, AB., & Pou, S. (2015). Human security and land rights in Cambodia. Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace.
[Commissioned Report]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, AB., & Pou, S. (2015). Human security in Cambodia: Far from over. JICA.
[Commissioned Report]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Conference

Beban, A., Schoenberger, L., & Lamb, V. (2018). Authoritarian Rule Shedding its Populist Skin in Cambodia. https://www.tni.org/en/publication/authoritarian-rule-shedding-its-populist-skin-how-loss-of-independent-media-in-the-2017. The Hague: Emancipatory Rural Politics Conference
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Beban, AB.They come with vegetables and leave with black gold: Making markets in Cambodia. . Bandung, Indonesia
[Conference Paper]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, AB.Youth to the Frontier: Ambiguous state making in Cambodia’s land reform.
[Conference Paper]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, AB.(2016). Unwritten rule(s): Ambiguous state making on Cambodia’s property frontier. . San Francisco, United States of America
[Conference Paper]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, AB., & Schoenberger, L.They turn us into criminals: Encountering land grabs as entanglements of fear.
[Conference Paper]Authored by: Beban, A.

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Beban, AB.Laboring in ambiguity: Uncertainty, fear and the meaning of tenure security in Cambodia’s agribusiness concessions. . Toronto, Canada
[Conference Paper]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, AB., & Gorman, T. (2015). Gaining and maintaining control: Vietnamese migrants, Cambodian elites and strategies of land control along the Cambodian borderlands. Land grabbing, conflict and agrarian‐environmental transformations: Perspectives from East and Southeast Asia. Vol. 27 (pp. 1 - 21). Chiang Mai: Land grabbing, conflict and agrarian‐environmental transformations: Perspectives from East and Southeast Asia
[Conference Paper in Published Proceedings]Authored by: Beban, A.
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Other

Nguyen, P., & Beban, A. (2020). Inclusive business: A critique. : DevPolicy Blog
[Internet publication]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, A. (2019). Land Emotions and the Durability of Power in Cambodia. : New Mandala
[Internet publication]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, A., & Schoenberger, L. (2018). Authoritarian Rule Shedding its Populist Skin in Cambodia. : Open Democracy
[Internet publication]Authored by: Beban, A.
Beban, AB. (2015). Time to sow the seeds of land reform in Cambodia. (pp. 1 - 4). Australian National University
[Other]Authored by: Beban, A.

Consultancy and Languages

Languages

  • Khmer
    Last used: Current
    Spoken ability: Excellent
    Written ability: Average
  • English
    Last used: Today
    Spoken ability: Excellent
    Written ability: Excellent

Teaching and Supervision

Contact Supervisor

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position Current Completed
Main Supervisor 2 0
Co-supervisor 2 1

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • Malathi Rambodagedara - Doctor of Philosophy
    Addressing Water Challenges through Collective Action - A Case of Water Dependent Agrarian Communities in Sri Lanka
  • Brittany Palatchie - Doctor of Philosophy
    The precarity of platform capitalism: How collective mobilisation changes as the sex work industry shifts to online marketplaces.

Co-supervisor of:

  • Claudia Walker - Doctor of Philosophy
    Cooperative inquiry with female corrections officers- experiences of gender and bodies at work.
  • Kalym Lipsey - Doctor of Philosophy
    It's (not) just time: the long-term impact of incarceration on identity

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

  • 2023 - Lan Phuong Nguyen - Doctor of Philosophy
    Engaging with the private sector for development: A critical analysis of attempts to partner with business for women’s economic empowerment in Vietnam

Media and Links

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Last updated on Monday 27 February 2023