Since the mid-1970s there has been an increase in interest and concern for the countryside. At a public level, this is evident in the growth in the membership of countryside organizations and rurally-focused hobbies. At the academic level, it can be seen in the burgeoning of courses with rural, conservation and environmental themes. At the level of public policy, it can be seen in the development of policies regarding conservation, farm diversification, public access and housing. Planners are often ignorant of the historical development of the agricultural economy - and conservation experts know little of the tradition of rural community development. This book addresses both of these issues, providing a critical overview of rural change over the 80 years since World War I in order to illuminate the historical origins of present-day policy. This work should be of interest to senior undergraduates and postgraduates specializing in rural development in western economies, rural planning, environmental studies, conservation or recreation; professional town and country planners; and staff in countryside organizations.

This study, first published in 1993, analyses the relationship among poverty, food insecurity and commercialization in rural China by employing agricultural household models. Data are derived from a 10,000 household subsample of the annual rural household consumption and expenditure survey.

This is a work summarizing in one volume the pioneering approach of the author to public-interest decision-taking in the field of urban & regional planning. This book is aimed at students, researchers and professionals in planning. Nathaniel Lichfield first introduced in his "Economics of Planned Development" the concept that, in any use and development of land, the traditional "development balance sheet" of the developers needed to be accompanied by a "planning balance sheet" prepared by the planning officer or planning authority. Over the forty years since this work was published, the author has brought to the operational level the "planning balance sheet," with many case studies, primarily for consultancy purposes. The present title reflects the incorporation during the 1970s of the then emerging field of environmental impact assessment.

This is a work summarizing in one volume the pioneering approach of the author to public-interest decision-taking in the field of urban & regional planning. This book is aimed at students, researchers and professionals in planning. Nathaniel Lichfield first introduced in his "Economics of Planned Development" the concept that, in any use and development of land, the traditional "development balance sheet" of the developers needed to be accompanied by a "planning balance sheet" prepared by the planning officer or planning authority. Over the forty years since this work was published, the author has brought to the operational level the "planning balance sheet," with many case studies, primarily for consultancy purposes. The present title reflects the incorporation during the 1970s of the then emerging field of environmental impact assessment.

Applying a feminist and environmentalist approach to her investigation of how the changing global economy affects rural women, Carolyn Sachs focuses on land ownership and use, cropping systems, and women's work with animals in highly industrialized as well as developing countries.Viewing rural women's daily lives in a variety of circumstances, Sachs analyzes the rich multiplicity of their experiences in terms of their gender, class, and race. Drawing on historical and contemporary research, rural women's writings, and in-depth interviews, she shows how environmental degradation results from economic and development practices that disadvantage rural women. In addition, she explores the strategies women use for resistance and survival in the face of these trends.Offering a range of examples from different countries, "Gendered Fields" will appeal to readers interested in commonalities and differences in women's knowledge of and interactions with the natural environment.

Based on an analysis of a 1988 nationwide sample survey of 10,258 households, this book aims to offer insights into issues of rural inequality in China. The work focuses on the study of wealth rather than income as the primary measure.

Based on an analysis of a 1988 nationwide sample survey of 10,258 households, this book aims to offer insights into issues of rural inequality in China. The work focuses on the study of wealth rather than income as the primary measure.

This study examines the interaction, at national and international level, of the economic, political and social change processes within Europe which are bringing about fundamental transformations in rural areas. Although such changes are experienced at a local level, they are heavily imbued with a national tone, given that European nations possess distinctive visions of their rural areas. These rural identities set limits within which economic, political and social agents can act. Yet these limits are constantly being subjected to strain, particularly with the globalization of economic activity and the strengthening impetus for integrated EC policies. The authors expand on this view of rural Europe, and place its significance within the broader field of rural studies.

The authors' model orients this community in the vortex of contemporary forces, pointing up, for example, the need for face-to-face interaction among residents versus the larger society's demand for electronic communication. With increasing conflicts between the culture of rural communities and that of the "outside world" occurring, small towns all over the United States are losing their businesses, their doctors, and their sense of community. Yet the town described in this study is thriving."Against All Odds" identifies pride, determination, and a sense of belonging that must be nurtured--and the local organization that binds all of these factors together--in order to keep a small town alive in the face of powerful disruptive forces. Not since Vidich and Bensman's landmark "Small Town in Mass Society" has such a thoughful examination of a contemporary rural community been available.

When first published in 2008, The New Peasantries revolutionized our ways of thinking of what constitutes the peasantry and repeasantization. It showed how a new era of empire and globalization was creating new forms of peasantry. This new edition is thoroughly revised, with a reorganization of chapters and several new chapters added. It includes a new chapter on China, based on the author's extensive fieldwork there, and much more information on Brazil. It integrates and critically reviews the many publications on peasants, peasantries and peasant modes of agricultural production published in recent years. The theoretical discussion is enriched with more attention to the seminal work of Chayanov. Greater attention is also paid to the construction of new markets - a theme that will remain a major issue in the coming decade. It combines and integrates different bodies of literature: the rich traditions of peasant studies, development and rural sociology, neo-institutional economics and debates on empire and globalization. The original book has been used in several international postgraduate courses. The experience and feedback thus obtained has been used to simplify the structure of the book and make it more accessible as a textbook for students.

The book gives a practitioner's account of international experiences with rural development seen from a German angle. After 40 years of rural development efforts patterned and characterized by different models and approaches, the overall achievements of these efforts seem very sobering: rural mass poverty has not been overcome; in fact it has hardly been contained in many of the developing regions. It attempts to explain some of the reasons behind this obvious failure, and concludes that most rural development approaches suffered not only from both organizational and managerial design weaknesses, but were prone to failure because they neglected structural and political distortions in the macroand meso-spheres of the poor countries. Although donors could have seen that their rural development projects were doomed to failure if projects and programmes were not embedded in an enabling policy environment, they nevertheless continued with them. The book argues for a development co-operation for rural areas that actively supports popular participation, beneficiaries' self-organization, decentralization and, consequently, smaller self-managed (para)projects rather than large, top-down organized rural development projects. Under the conditions of the 1990s the success of rural development will depend largely not only on the creation of an enabling policy environment but also on the skilful linking of sectoral programmes and related (para)projects. Essential areas of co-operation in the struggle for greater and more effective orientation towards poverty alleviation are land and tenure reforms, rural financial systems, basic social services and social security systems.

Exploring one of the most dynamic and contested regions of the world, this series includes works on political, economic, cultural, and social changes in modern and contemporary Asia and the Pacific.

The leading specialist on China's twentieth century peasant resistance reexamines, in bold and original ways, the question: Was the Chinese peasantry a revolutionary force? Where most scholarly attention has focused on Communist-led peasant movements, Bianco's story is one of peasant thought and action largely unmediated by modern political parties. This volume pays particular attention to the first half of the twentieth century when peasant-based conflict, ranging from tax and food protests to secret society conflicts, opium struggles, inter-communal conflicts, and tenant protests over rent, was central to nationwide revolutionary processes.

Elizabeth Croll's "From Heaven to Earth" examines the images, policies and experiences of development in China, and more specifically shows how the peasant experience of revolution and reform has been greatly affected by their conceptualizations of time and change. Beginning with the first major reforms introduced into China's villages in 1979, numerous changes have been made in the translation and practice of reform policies. These reforms have in fact become so paradoxical and various, that analysts have had to modify their initial judgments of these complex changes over the years.
Croll takes a unique analytical approach to the subject of rural development policy in China by examining this issue in the context of peasant dreams of development--dreams which prove central to how this population views their family and individual experience. Croll also examines the desires which motivate peasant households in China; the strenuous demands that current reforms have forced upon peasant families; and the ways in which peasant households maximize their resources in the face of reform and rural development.
In its examination of the peasant family and household, the peasant individual and their relationship with the state, "From Heaven to Earth" shows how the translation and implementation of national policy is greatly dependent upon local knowledge and power.

Much has been written on China's peasant revolution, less has been written of the peasant experience of reform. Since 1979, when the first major reforms were introduced into China's villages, there have been many shifts and changes in the translation and practice of reform policies. Consequently, many of the initial assumptions and judgements made by observers, analysts and participants have been modified over the years. It is not so much that the implications of the reforms for lives, practices and policies have become clearer, as that they have become increasingly paradoxical and various. Elisabeth Croll examines the images, policies and experiences of development, and links the peasants' experience of revolution and reform with their conceptualizations of time and change. She combines a study of the dreams of development as sets of rhetorical lens - through which peasant populations perceive collective family and individual experiences - with an analysis of rural development policies and reforms at the centre of which lies the peasant household. She also examines the new and recent desires which motivate peasant households in China.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The frontier or `marcher' societies flourished in the Middle Ages and their influence has lasted well into modern times. In this study of Anglo-Scottish relations and of border society, the contributors examine the infrastructure beneath societies which were permanently `organized for war'. They draw on Anglo-Scottish archival material to argue that the issues which feature in other frontier societies - acculturation and the creation of special institutions - appeared also on the Anglo-Scottish frontier. The book uses the celebrated Battle of Otterburn as a starting-point for a major reassessment of border society, challenging the view put forward in popular ballads that the borders were isolated and self-contained.

The ancient Greco-Roman world was a world full of cities: not of cities in the modern sense of massive conglomerations, but in a distinctive sense of communities in which countryside was dominated by urban centre. Interest in the special relationship of town and country in the ancient world goes back to Max Weber and beyond. This volume of papers by influential archaeologists and historians seeks to bring together the two disciplines in exploring the city-country relationship and its impact on social, political, economic and cultural conditions in classical antiquity. Topics include the rise of the "polis" in ancient Greece, the economic and cultural role of city elites in Athens, central Italy and Asia Minor, and the role of taxation in subordinating town to country.

The Routledge History of Rural America charts the course of rural life in the United States, raising questions about what makes a place rural and how rural places have shaped the history of the nation. Bringing together leading scholars to analyze a wide array of themes in rural history and culture, this text is a state-of-the-art resource for students, scholars, and educators at all levels. This Routledge History provides a regional context for understanding change in rural communities across America and examines a number of areas where the history of rural people has deviated from the American mainstream. Readers will come away with an enhanced understanding of the interplay between urban and rural areas, a knowledge of the regional differences within the rural United States, and an awareness of the importance of agriculture and rural life to American society. The book is divided into four main sections: regions of rural America, rural lives in context, change and development, and resources for scholars and teachers. Examining the essays on the regions of rural America, readers can discover what makes New England different from the South, and why the Midwest and Mountain West are quite different places. The chapters on rural lives provide an entree into the social and cultural history of rural peoples - women, children and men - as well as a description of some of the forces shaping rural communities, such as immigration, race and religious difference. Chapters on change and development examine the forces molding the countryside, such as rural-urban tensions, technological change and increasing globalization. The final section will help scholars and educators integrate rural history into their research, writing, and classrooms. By breaking the field of rural history into so many pieces, this volume adds depth and complexity to the history of the United States, shedding light on an understudied aspect of the American mythology and beliefs about the American dream.

The Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation (LAAD) was one of many initiatives taken at the height of the Cold War to alleviate poverty in countries threatened by communist insurgencies. Its mission was to promote rural development by funding local agribusiness enterprises to create new permanent jobs and new economic activity. In Mission Possible, Ross, president of LAAD from 1972 to 1998, gives a richly detailed insider's account of the company's first three decades.Originally capitalized with a little over $2 million, and beginning with the small economies of Central America, it gradually expanded into the Caribbean islands and South America and now is a factor in 25 countries. To date, LAAD has provided over $300 million to 700 projects, generating tens of thousands of new jobs and new annual exports of $500 million. Always profitable, it has paid a dividend for twenty years. Its capitalization has grown to over $30 million by reinvesting most of its earnings in Latin America. Since LAAD was committed exclusively to Latin America, it had to contend with an often unsettled political environment; it could not simply stand on the sidelines and wait for conditions to improve. Indeed in a broader sense LAAD's mission was to help improve those conditions.Mission Possible describes a small but significant chapter in a broader context of how the world's rich countries have tried to raise living standards among their poorer neighbors. Students of economic development and international business management will learn much from the story of how this unique experiment grew into a dynamic enterprise."[Ross] offers innumerable studies [in Mission Possible] of investment projects that stimulated the commercial production of agricultural produce in the region. He recounts the frustrating negotiations with uncomprehending central bankers and the difficulties of developing marketing and other infrastructural networks that are so important for assuring the success of any business, and is pleased with what he identifies as the two most significant changes that profoundly affected agriculture: the decline in the role of the state in Latin America and in protectionism in the industrialized world. ... He stresses the fundamental roles that innovative entrepreneurs can play, taking advantage of opportunities created by organizations like LAAD, and using market information to reduce uncertainty." -David Barkin, Latin American Research ReviewRobert L. Ross, a Harvard-educated development economist, has worked for forty years in Latin America. He taught economics at the Latin American Economic and Social Planning Institute in Santiago, Chile and worked on the first development plans in Haiti and Paraguay. He was president of the Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation from 1972 until his retirement in 1998.

San material culture has been a subject of study for many researchers and archaeologists but rarely has the documented material been seen through the eyes of the people themselves. San Elders Speak: Ancestral Knowledge of the Kalahari San is the first attempt to document indigenous knowledge through the voices of four San elders from the Kalahari. Over a period of seven days, the authors presented the four San elders, leaders in their community and custodians of ancient knowledge, with of the largest collection of KhoiSan ethnographica collected by Dr Louis Fourie at the beginning of the 19th century.

The San elders rediscovered objects last seen in their childhood and shared stories inspired by their handling of the objects. They provide the correct traditional names and explain how items were made, from what material, who used them, why and when. In a number of instances the elders changed the identification given by Louis Fourie. The knowledge they shared over those several days at Museum Africa in Johannesburg provide an enriching account that links the past and present in San life in illuminating ways. The text is accompanied by a rich visual record of the artefacts and how the San elders portray their use.

Aimed at scholars and students of archaeology, human evolution, anthropology, material culture studies, conservation, museology, and African studies, San Elders Speak is a captivating record into all aspects of this ancient and vanishing world of indigenous knowlegde, and represents a unique heritage for the people of descendant San communities.

Many rural areas in the United States find themselves struggling to build local assets and create wealth, and, when this wealth is created, they often struggle to hold on it. Previous approaches to community and economic development have been inadequate in attempting to reverse these trends. Shifting to a new way of enabling economic development requires supporting innovative community leaders as they explore new ways of approaching the task at hand. It also requires thinking anew about the role of rural areas, based on valuing multiple forms of wealth - natural, social, and human. There is a real need for an approach that can help stem the potential loss of existing wealth, and attract new investment that will allow rural areas to become valued partners in regional economies. This book provides an important insight into rural wealth creation as a sustainable economic development strategy. At the same time, a number of compelling issues are raised that merit future research effort and discussion. This book was originally published as a special issue of Community Development.

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.

The author examines the linkages and similarities between compulsive athletics and eating disorders, and proposes that they are different manifestations of a single condition: the activity disorder.

This title was first published in 2000: Using micro-level data, this text shows that rural Russian households have made significant adaptations to an emerging market economy in just a few years. It focuses on how household capital (household labour, social networks and comunity attachment) effect the economic and psychological adaptation of households to rapid socioeconomic change. Findings are from 1995 to 1997 panel surveys made in three waves. The book deals systematically with micro-level processes of household adaptation to a market economy, institutional change and emerging informal and formal patterns of land tenure and use in Russia. It shows how structural changes are occurring in rural Russia and their impact on household enterprise development and income. Difference in household capital explains the emergence of inequality in the countryside and differences in the degree to which households experience stress and a higher or lower subjective quality of life.

This title was first published in 2002. While capitalism continues to convert former communal land into private property, communal ownership still exists throughout the world. By examining the agricultural communities of Chile's semi-arid Norte Chico region where the land commons are predominant, Gloria Gallardo Fernandez investigates the historical origins, emergence, socio-economic context and current development of this form of land tenure. The case study is contrasted with communal land areas in Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland and the UK, whose distinct historical and socio-politcal developments are also explored. This investigation documents almost four centuries, stemming from colonial archival sources, and thus fills the theoretical and empirical gap in the literature about this form of commons.