Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Setting out a new, path-breaking research agenda for global rural development, this timely book offers an innovative and embedded rural social science capable of both understanding and enacting progress towards diverse and sustainable pathways. It relocates rural development at the heart of global trends associated with widespread but uneven urbanisation, climate change and severe resource depletion, rising population growth, density and inequality, and global political, economic and health crises. Chapters collapse traditional binary notions of development as north-south, rural-urban, global-local and traditional modern, embracing a revised conceptualisation of uneven development as a process dependent upon multiple theoretical and conceptual frameworks. It offers potential routes for substantive, interlinked research agendas, including new ruralities, governance, land rights, agro-ecology, financialisation, power relations, family farming, and the role of markets. Scholars of geography, planning, rural sociology and rural-urban studies looking for a broader understanding of the topic will find this book essential. It will also be beneficial for those engaged in rural development policy and practice.

'If you want to read a book that moves you both at the level of sentence and the quality of language and with the emotional depth of its subject matter, then A Fortunate Woman is definitely the book you should be reading' Samanth Subramanian, Baillie Gifford Judge When Polly Morland is clearing out her mother's house she finds a book that will lead her to a remarkable figure living on her own doorstep: the country doctor who works in the same remote, wooded valley she has lived in for many years. This doctor is a rarity in contemporary medicine, she knows her patients inside out, and their stories are deeply entwined with her own. In A Fortunate Woman, with its beautiful photographs by Richard Baker, Polly Morland has written a profoundly moving love letter to a landscape, a community and, above all, to what it means to be a good doctor. 'Morland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry' Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times 'Timely . . . compelling . . . a delicately drawn miniature' The Financial Times 'This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape' Kathleen Jamie, The New Statesman

Mark Smoot, professional Landscape architect and passionate photographer from California, took a job in South Africa in 1982 at the height of Apartheid. Fascinated to learn about this new world, he began taking road trips, exploring dusty roads and remote villages with his Nikon on the car seat beside him.

Mark’s focus soon became the self-built, rural homes of the indigenous peoples that he found to be meticulously maintained, decorated with loving care and fitting in complete harmony with their surroundings. The resulting portfolio of 577 full-colour photographs, taken over seven years and poignantly capturing a time and cultures that no longer exist, remained boxed away for decades as Mark continued to travel and work around the world. Finally, while locked down during the global covid-19 pandemic, Mark took out the photographs and put them together with 26 sketch illustrations, construction methods, tribal histories and his memories of adventures into this 303 page volume.

Mark’s work provides a rare insight into the lives (at that time) of indigenous peoples from 14 tribal groups of 6 different countries and the complex historical forces that impacted their traditions and vernacular architecture.

Murder is a dish best served ice cold... Margery and Clementine are enjoying a peaceful middle-age together in the small, idyllic town of Dewstow, and eagerly awaiting retirement from their work on the front line serving meals to the students at Summerview secondary school. Their calm life is shattered when their kitchen manager is found dead in the school's walk-in freezer. The police are adamant that it's an open-and-shut case of accidental death. Margery and Clementine are convinced there's something far more nefarious going on, and they take it upon themselves to investigate. As they inch closer to the truth, it becomes clear that someone will stop at nothing to keep the pair quiet. Will the perpetrator get their just-desserts before their time runs out? A delightful, quintessentially British cosy mystery perfect for fans of SJ Bennett and Robert Thorogood. Praise for The Dinner Lady Detectives 'This cosy crime novel has some hilarious moments and is perfect to curl up with.' Heat 'A brilliant read! Bella 'A brilliant whodunnit!' Closer 'The plot is great, the character cast is spot on, and the dialogue and humor is so quick, smart, and addictive. Margery and Clem play off one another brilliantly. I cannot wait to read the next book (please say there will be one!!!!!!) and highly recommend this gem.' NetGalley review 'What a fun mystery. I would definitely call this a cozy mystery on the line of Murder, She Wrote! I love the dinner ladies and their interactions. I love the relationship between Clem and Margery.' NetGalley review 'The characters are beautifully written and I came to love them within the first few pages and was rooting for them all the way to the end. At times I wanted to stop reading because I just wanted the experience to go on for longer.' NetGalley review 'Had me hooked from the start right until the end. It was just a lovely cosy read that felt like coming home on a cold and dark night. I loved it.'

Welcome to Halesmere House, where romance might be just around the corner...After years of living in the past, Ella is ready to start building a future. The perfect opportunity presents itself when she is offered a short-term role at Halesmere House in the Lake District, and tasked with kick-starting its artists' residence. She can't wait to start and explore a new career in an inspiring location. But when Ella arrives at Halesmere, she wonders if she's made a huge mistake after she clashes with Max, the new owner. Max has his own reasons to be unsettled by her presence, but despite his misgivings it seems everyone else loves having Ella around. As a single dad, it's his children's attachment to her that bothers him most. Who will pick up the pieces when Ella leaves? What Max doesn't know is that Ella is falling for more than just the Lake District and the community around her. Can her temporary job lead to a permanent happy ending? A tender and uplifting Christmas romance for fans of Heidi Swain, Karen Swan and Sue Moorcroft. Praise for Snowfall Over Halesmere House 'Warmth, community and romance all wrapped up in a sumptuous setting - this is everything I want from a Christmas book!' Donna Ashcroft 'Suzanne's writing flows beautifully and her characters are real and vibrant. I thoroughly enjoyed the story carrying me along until was quite desperate for Ella and Max to find a way to be together.' Sue Moorcroft

Klein dorpies is elkeen uniek met sy eie karakter en dinge.

Vanweë die klein gemeenskappe word mense in dieselfde smeltkroes gegooi; hetsy na gelang van kulturele afkoms of ras, verskillende godsdienste of oortuigings. Om te oorleef moes hulle die lewe se uitdagings so goed moontlik saam met mekaar aanpak, en so ontwikkel ’n algemene soort kultuur deur die jare heen; baie prakties, sonder onnodige nonsies en met baie humor.

Plattelandsemense aarsel nie om dinge te sê soos dit is nie; dikwels in plat taalgebruik wat vir ander miskien stuitig mag wees of selfs aanstoot sal gee. Die skrywer is ’n gebore en getoë “boytjie” van die platteland wat nie kan verhelp om met sy tong in die kies te skryf en te skets nie.

ʼn Groot knippie sout is gewis nodig. Lag of huil gerus lekker saam!

Settlements at the Edge examines the evolution, characteristics, functions and shifting economic basis of settlements in sparsely populated areas of developed nations. With a focus on demographic change, the book features theoretical and applied cases, which explore the interface between demography, economy, wellbeing and the environment. This book offers a comprehensive and insightful knowledge base for understanding the role of population in shaping the development and histories of northern sparsely populated areas of developed nations including Alaska (USA), Australia, Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Finland and other nations with territories within the Arctic Circle. In the past, many remote settlements were important bases for opening up vast areas for resource extraction, working as strategic centers and as national representations of the conquering of frontiers. With increased contemporary interest from governments, policy makers, multinational companies and other stakeholders, this book explores the importance of understanding relationships between settlement populations and the economy at the local level. It features international and expert contributors who present insightful case studies on the role of human geography, primarily population issues, in shaping the past, present and future of settlements in remote areas. They also provide analysis on opportunities and challenges for northern settlements and the effects of climate change, resource futures, and tourism. A chapter on the issues of populating future space settlements highlights that many issues for settlement change and functions in isolated and remote spatial realms are universal. This book will appeal to those interested in the past, present and future importance of settlements 'at the edge' of developed nations as well as those working in policy and program contexts. College students enrolled in courses such as demography, population studies, human studies, regional development, social policy and/or economics will find value in this book as well. Contributors include: P. Berggren, D. Bird, O.J. Borch, A. Boyle, H. Brokensha, F. Brouard, D. Carson, D. Carson, T. Carter, B. Charters, J. Cleary, J. Cokley, S. de la Barre, W. Edwards, S. Eikeland, M. Eimermann, P.C. Ensign, J. Garrett, G. Gisladottir, K. Golebiowska, J. Guenther, P. Hanrick, L. Harbo, S. Harwood, P. Heinrich, L. Huskey, G. Johannesdottir, I. Kelman, A. Koch, N. Krasnoshtanova, V. Kuklina, J. Lovell, R. Marjavaara, M. McAuliffe, R. McLeman, J.J. McMurtry, T. Nilsen, L.M. Nilsson, P. Peters, A. Petrov, G. Petursdottir, B. Prideaux, W. Rankin, J. Roto, J. Salmon, G. Saxinger, A. Schoo, P. Skoeld, A. Taylor, M. Thompson, P. Timony, A. Vuin, M. Warg Naess, E. Wenghofer, E. Wensing, D.R. White, D Zoellner

Rural tourism marketing is a subject that remains significantly under-researched. Gunjan Saxena seeks to encourage a fuller understanding of rural tourism marketing by uncovering the lived experiences and enterprise of different actor groups as they respond to the impact of tourism on their communities and cultural identities. Marketing Rural Tourism presents actor narratives to reveal nuances inherent in their practices and perceptions as they develop, support or oppose tourism in their locality. By focusing on actors' experience and enterprise involved in the ongoing production, consumption and marketing of rural landscapes for tourism, this book enables an insight into varied storylines that underlie the processes of place making. Academics in the area of marketing and tourism as well as development studies will appreciate the contribution this book will make to the wider marketing discourse that circulates about rural destinations. The book will also be a valuable resource to undergraduate students looking to incorporate fresh conceptual insights into their projects, as well as postgraduate students looking to apply newer approaches to conceptualising tourism or place marketing.

THE SUNDAY TIMES NATURE BOOK OF THE YEAR The new bestseller from the author of The Shepherd's Life 'A beautifully written story of a family, a home and a changing landscape' Nigel Slater As a boy, James Rebanks's grandfather taught him to work the land the old way. Their family farm in the Lake District hills was part of an ancient agricultural landscape: a patchwork of crops and meadows, of pastures grazed with livestock, and hedgerows teeming with wildlife. And yet, by the time James inherited the farm, it was barely recognisable. The men and women had vanished from the fields; the old stone barns had crumbled; the skies had emptied of birds and their wind-blown song. English Pastoral is the story of an inheritance: one that affects us all. It tells of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, and the age-old rhythms of work, weather, community and wild things were lost. And yet this elegy from the northern fells is also a song of hope: of how, guided by the past, one farmer began to salvage a tiny corner of England that was now his, doing his best to restore the life that had vanished and to leave a legacy for the future. This is a book about what it means to have love and pride in a place, and how, against all the odds, it may still be possible to build a new pastoral: not a utopia, but somewhere decent for us all. 'A heartfelt book and one that dares to hope' Alan Bennett 'A wonder of a book, fierce, tender, and beautiful' Helen Macdonald Winner of the Wainwright Prize Winner of the Fortnum & Mason Food Book of the Year Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize Shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize Longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize

With more and more global economic wealth and power resting with fewer and fewer people, and given the acute land inequalities in the rural areas of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, how valid are the dominant theories about the nature of rural livelihoods? How can the intricacies of the economic and social transformations that are unfolding in the rural areas of developing countries best be understood? The authors of Equitable Rural Socioeconomic Change address these questions as they explore the interrelated themes of land inequality, climate dynamics, and technological innovation across varied rural landscapes, primarily in South Africa, but also in Rwanda, and Brazil.

WINNER OF A SOMERSET MAUGHAM AWARD 2021 A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE A SUNDAY TIMES AND FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Marks the birth of a new star of non-fiction' William Dalrymple 'A beautiful account of immersion in an alien world' Philip Marsden, Guardian There is the Cornwall Lamorna Ash knew as a child - the idyllic, folklore-rich place where she spent her summer holidays. Then there is the Cornwall she discovers when, feeling increasingly dislocated in London, she moves to Newlyn, a fishing town near Land's End. This Cornwall is messier and harder; it doesn't seem like a place that would welcome strangers. But before long, Lamorna finds herself on a week-long trawler trip with a crew of local fishermen, afforded a rare glimpse into their world, their warmth and their humour. Out on the water, miles from the coast, she learns how fishing requires you to confront who you are and what it is that tethers you to the land. Dark, Salt, Clear is a bracing journey of discovery and a captivating portrait of a community sustained and defined by the sea for centuries.

Eerie and menacing, timely and moving, Impossible Causes is an unputdownable novel that examines the consequences of silence kept at young women's expense. 'A tightly told and powerful story of sins, lies and secrets long held' i 'This highly atmospheric tale is both thrilling and poignant' Heat For seven months of the year, the remote island of Lark is fogbound, cut off completely from the mainland. The arrival of three strangers is the cause of much speculation: the first is a charismatic young teacher - the only male teacher on the island - the other two, a mother and her teenage daughter, seeking a place to hide from unspeakable tragedy. What have they come to escape? What will they find waiting for them on Lark? And whose body will soon be found lying in the island's stone circle?

'Poignant ... A meditation on life, love and the importance of nature' IRISH TIMES Thirty-four years ago, when they were in their twenties, Niall Williams and Christine Breen made the impulsive decision to leave their lives in New York City and move to Christine's ancestral home in the town of Kiltumper in rural Ireland. In the decades that followed, the pair dedicated themselves to writing, gardening and living a life that followed the rhythms of the earth. In 2019, with Christine in the final stages of recovery from cancer and the land itself threatened by the arrival of turbines just one farm over, Niall and Christine decided to document a year of living in their garden and in their small corner of a rapidly changing world. Proceeding month by month through the year, this is the story of a garden in all its many splendours, and a couple who have made their life observing its wonders.

'A priceless portrait of one of the least understood and frequently most vilified of people: farmers. It should really be read by all in this country who buys food - i.e. everyone.' Daily Mail 'Highly researched and deeply thoughtful ... Bathurst peers under the bonnet of these lives and reveals things that rarely make it into print.' James Rebanks, The Times 'A fine achievement: describing the indescribable' Rosamund Young, author of The Secret Life of Cows We think we know what makes Britain's countryside: drystone walls, stiles, sheep on a distant hillside. But for many of us, farmers themselves - the men and women who shape, maintain and care for that land - often remain a mystery: familiar but unpredictable, a secretive industry that's still visible from space. In Field Work, Bella Bathurst journeys through Britain to talk to those on the far side of the fence. From fruit farmers to fallen stock operators, from grassy uplands to polytunnels, she creates a portrait of modern Britain, exposing in the process the inextricable bonds that exist between land and the people who farm it. As farmers find themselves torn between time-honoured methods and modern appetites, these raw, wise and funny accounts reveal an ancient way of life changing beyond recognition.

Dr. Hossen carried out an exceptional program of research in Bangladesh which focused on water governance in relation to human rights, international water law and environmental sustainability. His major argument is that eco-agricultural system encounters major disruptions due to a number of factors including regional hydropolitics and neoliberal and highly centralized approaches to water resource management that follow the principles of "ecocracy." In this context, Dr. Hossen explores three major questions: (i) How can local ecological knowledge be incorporated into national water policy? (ii) What strategies and reforms are required at the international watershed governance level? and (iii) How can human rights principles, including the principle of water as a human right, be used to formulate more effective water policy and governance principles? To answer these questions, Dr. Hossen explores the effects of regional hydropolitics on water management, focusing on three large engineering projects, the Farakka Barrage built by India on the Ganges River, and the Ganges-Kobodak (GK) and Gorai River Restoration (GRR) Projects in Bangladesh. This analysis is based on his research into local knowledge and farming practices during a year of fieldwork in 2011-12, focus group discussions, in-depth case studies and social survey methods. In addition to this primary data, he looks at extensive secondary documents from the government of Bangladesh pertaining to water management, agricultural modernization and institutional structures. The arguments herein are applicable particularly to the Ganges-Brahmaputra Basin countries in South Asia but also to the river basins of other parts of the world.

In Arctic and northern communities, livelihoods and land use depend heavily on natural resources. Decision-making processes around the use of natural resources are often contested and given their importance to these communities the participation of local stakeholders is vital. This timely book presents practices that have been developed with key stakeholders to improve the collection and utilization of locally relevant knowledge in land use planning. Chapters illustrate how indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) can be made spatially explicit by using, for example, participatory GIS. Focusing on countries including Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Ireland, Finland, Norway and Sweden, this book pays particular attention to the recognized challenges of these regions, including the relationships between local and national actors and indigenous and other local populations.Sharing Knowledge for Land Use Management will be a key resource for students and researchers of geography, planning, regional and tourism studies as well as planning authorities and consultants, offering new ideas and tools for the inclusion of local knowledge in decision making processes.

This is the personal journal of a young American woman, living for six months amongst the Dodoth cattle-herdsmen in Northern Uganda. It is also an adventure story, for during this period the Dodoth were caught up in an escalating cycle of violence with their age-old rivals, the Turkana tribe. The animating tension of this feud was the tradition of cattle raiding, but it escalated to unprecedented levels of violence when the new nation states of Uganda and Kenya were drawn in to police these ancient clan frontiers. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas s total immersion in the life of this tribe in 1961 takes us with her, as with clarity and a lyrical eye for detail she brings their whole culture alive. For though she was not an academic herself, she had spent much time in the field with her mother, who was the world s leading authority on the Bushman of the Kalahari. So it was natural for Elizabeth Marshall Thomas to take her own young children on this adventure, where she proves herself such a brave, humane and unshockable witness to the life of the warrior herdsmen.

Rapid and uneven change to the fabric of rural life is widespread in modern Middle Eastern countries. Modernisation, usually in the Western model, has often brought major improvements in agricultural technology, education and public health but has also had the effect of weakening the traditional rural economy of many villages and encouraging their growing dependence on external sources of income, most notably oil remittances. This collection of research on the Middle Eastern village looks at the impact on rural life and environment of such factors as the mass exodus of labour to urban centres, emigration, immigration, environmental change and the changing role of women in rural communities - particularly the wives of migrant workers who have to fill a new role in the family structure. State-sponsored agrarian policies have weakened the power of traditional landed interests and together with labour migration have provoked new tension and inequalities in rural society. The book makes clear that the pattern of change has been highly uneven and has served to heterogenise the countryside. As the oil states enter a period of recession and the likelihood of substantial return migration increases, rural communities will need to make further major adjustments and the book examines the tensions this new development is likely to produce. First published in 1987.

This book draws on preeminent planning theorist Patsy Healey's personal experiences as a resident of a small rural town in England, to explore what place and community mean in a particular context, and how different initiatives struggle to get a stake in the wider governance relations while maintaining their own focus and ways of working. Throughout the book, Healey assesses the public value generated by community initiatives and the impact of such activity on wider governance dynamics. Healey explores the power which small communities are able to mobilise through self-organisation and grassroots activism. Through the lens of Wooler and Glendale as a micro-society, the book centres on a community experiencing an economic and demographic transition. It focuses on three initiatives developed and led by local people - a small community development trust, an informal attentionmobilising network, and a Neighbourhood Plan project which uses an opportunity provided within the formal planning system. It examines how, in such civil society activism, people came together to promote local development in a place and community neglected by the dominant political economy. The book details the power and force of community initiative and its potential for transforming both the future possibilities for the place and community itself, as well as wider governance relations. Overall, it seeks to enrich academic and policy discussion about how the relations between formal government and civil society energy could evolve in more productive and progressive directions.

This book explores learning outcomes for low-income rural and township youth at five South African universities. The book is framed as a contribution to southern and Africa-centred scholarship, adapting Amartya Sen’s capability approach and a framework of key concepts: capabilities, functionings, context, conversion factors, poverty and agency to investigate opportunities and obstacles to achieved student outcomes. This approach allows a reimagining of ‘inclusive learning outcomes’ to encompass the multi-dimensional value of a university education and a plurality of valued cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes for students from low-income backgrounds whose experiences are strongly shaped by hardship.

Based on capability theorising and student voices, the book proposes for policy and practice a set of contextual higher education capability domains and corresponding functionings orientated to more justice and more equality for each person to have the opportunities to be and to do what they have reason to value. The book concludes that sufficient material resources are necessary to get into university and flourish while there; the benefits of a university education should be rich and multi-dimensional so that they can result in functionings in all areas of life as well as work and future study; the inequalities and exclusion of the labour market and pathways to further study must be addressed by wider economic and social policies for ‘inclusive learning outcomes’ to be meaningful; and that universities ought to be doing more to enable black working-class students to participate and succeed.

Low-Income Students, Human Development and Higher Education in South Africa makes an original contribution to capabilitarian scholarship: conceptually in theorising a South-based multi-dimensional student well-being higher education matrix and a rich reconceptualisation of learning outcomes, as well as empirically by conducting rigorous, longitudinal in-depth mixed-methods research on students’ lives and experiences in higher education in South Africa. The audience for the book includes higher education researchers, international capabilitarian scholars, practitioners and policy-makers.

In Hard Luck and Heavy Rain Joseph C. Russo takes readers into the everyday lives of the rural residents of Southeast Texas. He encounters the region as a kind of world enveloped in on itself, existing under a pall of poverty, illness, and oil refinery smoke. His informants' stories cover a wide swath of experiences, from histories of LGBTQ+ life and the local petrochemical industries to religiosity among health food store employees and the suffering of cancer patients living in the Refinery Belt. Russo frames their hard-luck stories as forms of verbal art and poetic narrative that render the region a mythopoetic landscape that epitomizes the impasse of American late capitalism. He shows that in this severe world, questions of politics and history are not cut and dry, and its denizens are not simply backward victims of circumstances. Russo demonstrates that by challenging classist stereotypes of rural Americans as passive, ignorant, and uneducated, his interlocutors offer significant insight into the contemporary United States.

1. There is a market for this book across rural criminology, rural sociology and human geography. 2. Whereas most victimological literature focuses on the urban, this book sheds light on rural victimisation.