Between two hypes: Will ‘‘big data” help unravel blind spots in understanding the ‘‘global land rush?” Annelies Zoomers a,⇑,1 , Alex Gekker b,2 , Mirko Tobias Schäfer b,3 a Department of Human Geography and Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands b Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON), Department of Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University, The Netherlands article info Article history: Received 11 January 2015 Received in revised form 15 November 2015 Accepted 25 November 2015 Available online 24 December 2015 Keywords: Land grab Big data Hypes Development Africa Large scale land acquisition abstract The past several years have seen a huge number of publications, conferences and campaigns on ‘‘land grabbing” or large-scale acquisition of land, most often in Africa. Land-grabbing became a fiercely debated issue and the attention rapidly evolved into a real hype which has generated a wealth of knowl- edge. This global land grab awareness has coincided in time with the ‘‘big data” discussion which is one of the most hyped terms today in both academia and business, suggesting that the availability of datasets of increasing volume, velocity and variety can help to better understand reality. This article aims to critically review to what extent the availability of huge amounts of information about the land grab debate, including new sources of big data, has helped to untangle land grabbing and – more particularly – raising new questions and formulating new hypotheses that have been over- looked in the past. What is the value of digital methods and data driven research through online plat- forms for identifying knowledge gaps and proposing solutions? Our article shows the value of big data in uncovering new realities but also challenges to not become overwhelmed – while making more efforts than ever to look at the quality – and reliability – of information. Keep doing empirical research – and keep our feet on the ground while also learning from ‘‘virtual space” – is a sine qua non – for keeping track and making sensible interpretations. In many cases, however, there is a discrepancy between what is reported (big data) and what is important. Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The past decade has seen a huge number of publications, con- ferences and campaigns on a new phenomenon which has become known as the ‘global land rush’ or ‘land grabbing’ 4 : the issue of large-scale land acquisitions in developing countries by domestic and transnational companies, governments, and individuals. This hype started around 2007, following the world food price crisis, when the media started to report on the threats of a new global trend: ‘‘Capital rich countries with limited possibilities to produce their own food, such as China, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and others, have been scouring the globe in search of arable land to buy or to lease for the production of crops for food or bio- fuels”. (GRAIN, 2008a, 2008b, n.p.). This report, published by a non- governmental organization, contained an appendix listing more than 100 cases of land grabbing for offshore food production (Octo- ber 2008, http://www.grain.org/briefings/?id=212), showing that many of these deals involved huge areas of land. What attracted attention was not just the amount of land involved or the numbers of cases, but also the logic underlying the transactions, as well as the framing of the issues and the imageries invoked. As the authors stated: ‘‘This is not land that is being primarily acquired to produce crops to sell on the world market or to feed the local population. These crops are to be sent back to the nation that has acquired the land. Using its economic clout, the investing nation is taking http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.11.017 0016-7185/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: e.b.zoomers@uu.nl (A. Zoomers), gekker.alex@gmail.com (A. Gekker), m.t.schaefer@uu.nl (M.T. Schäfer). 1 Professor of International Development Studies. 2 PhD student at Media and Performance Studies. 3 Assistant Professor at Media and Performance Studies. 4 In this article we will use the term ‘land grabbing’. Evidently, not all large scale land acquisitions can be labeled as ‘land grabs’ (many are legal, and national governments often play an active role). We use the term land grabbing, however. based on the widespread usage in the media hype, but also to indicate the discrepancy between theory and practice: that land deals per se may be legal (so the fact that these lands are being acquired), but that in the process of acquisition, often illegal things may happen (Kaag and Zoomers, 2014). Land deals can be legal but unfair, threatening the rights of local people: local communities were not informed properly or compensation has not been given (or not as had been promised), etc. In this sense, the process often goes at the cost of local groups who are not strong enough to protect their rights. This will be further elaborated in the article. Geoforum 69 (2016) 147–159 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Geoforum journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geoforum