The idea for this discussion originated in a wooden cabin in the Dutch polders in the late summer of 2015. Harriet Friedmann responded enthusiastically to my observation that the International Rural ...Sociology Association (IRSA)'s 2016 conference in Toronto would coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of two landmark books which had defined new poles of debate in peasant studies: Peasants (Wolf 1966) by Eric Wolf (1922-2009), and The theory of peasant economy (Chayanov 1966), the first English translation of parts of the work of the Russian 'social agronomist' Alexander Chayanov (1888-1937). Both of these books had great influence on us, and on many others, at the time; and the debate between the two traditions which they represent, and their implications for agrarian policies and agrarian movements, continues to the present. We therefore proposed a panel discussion to mark this anniversary and to consider what has stayed the same, and what has changed, in the last 50 years of agrarian thought and agrarian politics. The organisers enthusiastically picked up the idea, elevating it from 'panel' to plenary and inviting us to organize the first plenary session of the conference, with the title 50 years of debate on peasantries, 1966-2016. The present panel, minus Jun Borras, matches our original wish list.
This article addresses the issues raised by Chiswell and Lobley concerning our publication ‘Understanding Farm Succession as Socially Constructed Endogenous Cycles'. Our response rebuts Chiswell and ...Lobley's criticisms of the article and assembles evidence from the literature to suggest that in a number of countries and regions of Europe, farm succession failure is at crisis levels. We suggest that the primary source of Chiswell and Lobley's optimism is the international FARMTRANSFERS survey, which they interpret as providing a positive assessment of farm transfer within the family. We present an alternative interpretation of their conclusions.
•We model farming systems evolution in the Kenyan highlands.•We link socio-economic scenarios with regional and household models.•Intensification, diversification and stagnation can occur ...simultaneously in a region.•Socio-political conditions modify the opportunity costs of resource use in farming systems.•Multi-scale models and scenarios useful for linking global change and local scale processes.
We explore how smallholder agricultural systems in the Kenyan highlands might intensify and/or diversify in the future under a range of socio-economic scenarios. Data from approximately 3000 households were analyzed and farming systems characterized. Plausible socio-economic scenarios of how Kenya might evolve, and their potential impacts on the agricultural sector, were developed with a range of stakeholders. We study how different types of farming systems might increase or diminish in importance under different scenarios using a land-use model sensitive to prices, opportunity cost of land and labour, and other variables. We then use a household model to determine the types of enterprises in which different types of households might engage under different socio-economic conditions. Trajectories of intensification, diversification, and stagnation for different farming systems are identified. Diversification with cash crops is found to be a key intensification strategy as farm size decreases and labour costs increase. Dairy expansion, while important for some trajectories, is mostly viable when land available is not a constraint, mainly due to the need for planting fodders at the expense of cropland areas. We discuss the results in relation to induced innovation theories of intensification. We outline how the methodology employed could be used for integrating global and regional change assessments with local-level studies on farming options, adaptation to global change, and upscaling of social, environmental and economic impacts of agricultural development investments and interventions.
This article develops understanding of cultural and digital capital in order to evaluate the contribution of creative practitioners to rural community resilience. Online practices today impact on ...creative work in rural locales in a number of ways. However, exactly how they extend âreachâ and contribute to rural creativity deserves greater attention. We examine how broadband Internet access and online practices impact on rural creative work and, in turn, how this enables creatives to participate at different levels in their rural communities, thus contributing to research into both rural community resilience and rural creative economies by providing inâdepth qualitative analysis. Through interviews undertaken in rural Scotland, the article outlines the implications of poor rural Internet connectivity for creative economies and explores the impact of this on the role of creatives in their rural communities and their âcommunityâfocusedâ creative activities. Our findings suggest creative practitioners are using digital technologies and adaptive approaches to overcome barriers to connectivity and to remain in rural locations. Creatives are invested in their communities and their rurality on a number of levels, contributing to community resilience through building cultural capital in diverse ways, and to âripple effectsâ from online activities.
This paper summarizes the main findings of the GLAMUR project which starts with an apparently simple question: is "local" more sustainable than "global"? Sustainability assessment is framed within a ...post-normal science perspective, advocating the integration of public deliberation and scientific research. The assessment spans 39 local, intermediate and global supply chain case studies across different commodities and countries. Assessment criteria cover environmental, economic, social, health and ethical sustainability dimensions. A closer view of the food system demonstrates a highly dynamic local-global continuum where actors, while adapting to a changing environment, establish multiple relations and animate several chain configurations. The evidence suggests caution when comparing "local" and "global" chains, especially when using the outcomes of the comparison in decision-making. Supply chains are analytical constructs that necessarily-and arbitrarily-are confined by system boundaries, isolating a set of elements from an interconnected whole. Even consolidated approaches, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), assess only a part of sustainability attributes, and the interpretation may be controversial. Many sustainability attributes are not yet measurable and "hard" methodologies need to be complemented by "soft" methodologies which are at least able to identify critical issues and trade-offs. Aware of these limitations, our research shows that comparing local and global chains, with the necessary caution, can help overcome a priori positions that so far have characterized the debate between "localists" and "globalists". At firm level, comparison between "local" and "global" chains could be useful to identify best practices, benchmarks, critical points, and errors to avoid. As sustainability is not a status to achieve, but a never-ending process, comparison and deliberation can be the basis of a "reflexive governance" of food chains.
This article, which also serves as the introduction for this special guest‐edited issue, examines the history of Rural Sociology's scholarly engagement with rurality, race, and ethnicity. We examine ...the historical patterns of how Rural Sociology has addressed race and ethnicity, and then present results from a meta‐analysis of empirical articles published between 1971 and 2020. Over time, the methodological approaches and scholarly focus of articles on race and ethnicity within Rural Sociology has gradually expanded to include more analyses of power and inequality using constructivist perspectives, and greater numbers of qualitative inquiries into the lived experiences of both white and nonwhite people. The articles featured in the special issue extend from Rural Sociology's growing attention to race and ethnicity. Together, they suggest the ways in which rural spaces are racially coded, how intersections with race and ethnicity exacerbate rural inequality, how the domination of people and the environment are co‐constituted, and how practices of racism are embedded within contextually specific ecologies. In drawing attention to these contributions, we suggest future directions for the discipline's engagement with rurality, race, and ethnicity, while simultaneously suggesting the ways in which our own disciplinary racial reckoning remains incomplete.
This article contributes to the critical debate on the choreographies of care in farming (Law) through an exploration of the interâdependence of care and situated expertise in the context of vine ...work. It argues that care as the totality of those activities which enable the maintenance, continuation, and repair of the farming âworldâ, to paraphrase Fisher and Tronto's classic definition, depends on experiential knowledge. According to Dreyfus and Dreyfus attentiveness, responsiveness, and adaptation to the material environment are characteristic of high levels of expertise. Attentiveness, responsiveness, and adaptation are also what characterises good care (Tronto; Mol). Through an autoethnographic account of acquiring competence in vine work, the article illustrates how through practical engagement with the material and social environment of the farm key elements of the logic of care (Mol) are acquired. In conclusion, the article indicates some consequences of putting experiential knowledge at the heart of multiâscalar and multiâtemporal cares farmers are increasingly asked to attend to.
O artigo analisa a obra Rechenbuch für Deutsche Schulen in Brasillien 2º Heft1, de Matheus Grimm2, com ênfase na seção XII, que aborda cálculos de economia doméstica e rural. Como o tema se insere na ...História da Educação Matemática, este estudo qualitativo e documental ampara-se na história cultural. A obra editada pela livraria Selbach, de Porto Alegre, teve sua primeira edição em 1900. O público-alvo eram os alunos do 3º e 4º ano elementar das escolas rurais teuto-brasileiras, unidocentes e mistas. A ideia era orientar os futuros colonos em suas receitas e despesas para administrar corretamente o orçamento familiar e gerenciar a produção na propriedade rural. Essa prática era comum nessas comunidades, pois havia o intuito de preparar as crianças para o futuro, com condições de realizar transações comerciais e dar continuidade aos negócios da família. Tais ações, contemporaneamente, fariam parte da denominada Educação Financeira, como objeto de conhecimento indispensável a ser trabalhado nas escolas brasileiras. As atividades desenvolvidas, a partir de situações-problema, estão relacionadas aos diferentes conteúdos matemáticos, envolvendo a aritmética, desenvolvendo habilidades para o manejo do cálculo escrito e mental por meio da resolução de problemas do cotidiano.
The article is a tribute to our colleague Iancu Filipescu, significant and representative sociologist for the 70s generation, who passed away in August 2019. He was noticed for his intense activity ...in the fields of rural sociology, industrial sociology and sociology of organizations, being an outstanding researcher and an elite professor. We will always remember fondly his name.
PDF
