This volume looks at a central sociological problem - the reconciliation of individual self-interest and social solidarity -through the eyes of villagers in the east Italian Alps. It shows how local conceptions of envy, personal strength, mutual sympathy, and self-sacrifice interact with ideas about language and communications, properties, kinship, and natural forces. Village ritual evokes these conceptions to represent a social system based on age-group solidarity and exchange between the generations, and to link village unity with images of church and state power. Heady draws on both participants observation and interviews with older informants to trace the effects of recent exogenous technological and institutional changes and the way local people have responded to them. His findings relate to such themes of recent history as nationalism, regionalism, and anti-clericalism; and contribute to the theoretical debate on the relevance of structuralist anthropology to European societies.

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.

From the perspective of village activists across China, this book tells the stories of farmers and rural laborers who raised the banner of opposition to constitutional reform during the first decade of the twentieth century. The author brings to life the stories of the Camel King of Zunhua county, Qu Shiwen and the Four Mountains of Laiyang county, and many others who criticized government modernization efforts, known collectively as the New Policy. Using county archives -including oral histories -as well as memoirs, periodical literature, missionary records, and official documents both Chinese and foreign, Of Camel Kings and Other Things constructs, from fragmented sources, a coherent historical view vital to our understanding of China's twentieth-century crises and the dilemmas of modernity itself."

From gated communities to Heaven's Gate, the idea and practice of community in America have not only declined but mutated. In the process, Americans' longing to be connected to something greater than themselves has intensified. This longing, coupled with an absence of genuine community alternatives, opens the way to counterfeit claims by those promoting economic rather than social agendas. This book examines 'counterfeit community' as it has become manifest throughout contemporary American society_in housing, as it shapes our public spaces; in the workplace; in politics; in religion; and most recently, in cyberspace. Promises of community come from those hawking exclusive golf course housing developments, from shopping malls and shopping channels, from 'total quality management' and mission statement rhetoric, from televangelists and electronic town meetings_and all lure us in, only to disappoint. As Counterfeit Community shows, building genuine community means no quick fixes and no false appeals. The hard work of weaving relationships must be combined with political, economic, and social change to counter the counterfeit trend. Marshaling positive examples of genuine community as well as increasing our sensitivity to false ringers, this book starts us along the way.

Although a great deal has been published on the economic, social and engineering history of nineteenth-century railways, the work of historical geographers has been much less conspicuous. This overview by David Turnock goes a long way towards restoring the balance. It details every important aspect of the railway's influence on spatial distribution of economic and social change, providing a full account of the nineteenth-century geography of the British Isles seen in the context of the railway. The book reviews and explains the shape of the developing railway network, beginning with the pre-steam railways and connections between existing road and water communications and the new rail lines. The author also discusses the impact of the railways on the patterns of industrial, urban and rural change throughout the century. Throughout, the historical geography of Ireland is treated in equal detail to that of Great Britain.

Drawing from decades of research, Setha Low shows how public space contributes to a flourishing society through promoting social justice and democratic practices. Thriving public spaces also enhance creativity, health, urban resilience, and environmental sustainability. Yet more than ever, public spaces across the world are threatened by urban development, privatization and neglect. Public spaces - where people from all walks of life play, work, meet, talk, read, think, debate, and protest - are vital to a healthy civic life. And, as the eminent scholar of public space Setha Low argues in Why Public Space Matters, even fleeting moments of visibility and encounter in these spaces tend to foster a broader worldview and our willingness to accept difference. Such experiences also enhance flexible thinking, problem solving, creativity, and inclusiveness. There are many such spaces, but they all enhance social life. Sidewalks and plazas offer business opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurs who cannot afford store space. Public parks have long provided major cultural attractions, from plays to concerts, at little or no cost to the public. Central squares have a storied tradition as arenas for demonstrations and political protests. Parks and waterways create sustainable greenways, and during disasters, all manner of public spaces become centers for food delivery and shelter. To illustrate their value, Low draws from decades of research in public spaces across the Americas, from New York to Costa Rica. Yet we are losing public spaces to accelerated urban development and the belief that public spaces are expendable. Just as important is the broad-scale and ongoing privatization of public space by corporate actors. Low explores why public spaces matter today, how they are at risk, and what we can do about protecting these essential places that support our everyday lives. Finally, she shows how we can work to promote public space protection and expansion at both the grassroots and global levels. Throughout, she focuses on real public spaces and the people who use them in cities and regions across the Americas, from New Jersey to Costa Rica. A powerful, defining statement on a foundational contributor to healthy civic life, Low's book not only details what we are at risk of losing, but shows us how we can not only stop the losses, but work to expand the number of spaces available to the public.

First comparative study of landless households brings out their major role in European history and society. The numbers of landless people - those lacking formal rights to land, or possessing only tiny smallholdings - grew rapidly across post-medieval Europe, as rural population and economic growth divided landowners and farmers from (increasingly) landless rural workers. But they have hitherto been relatively neglected, a gap which this volume, covering Scandinavia, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Britain, France and Spain from the sixteenth to the early twentieth centuries, aims to fill, making creative use of a diverse range of unexplored sources. Instead of concentrating on the well-documented cases of landholding peasants, it explores the many different experiences of the numerous rural landless. It explains how their households were formed (often in the face of economic difficulties and official hostility), how all the members of a family contributed to its survival, how the landless related to other social groups and negotiated access to vital resources, and how they adapted as rural society was changed by war, politics, agrarian and industrial development, government policy and welfare systems. Contributors: Arnau Barquer i Cerda, John Broad, Dieter Bruneel, Christine Fertig, Henry French, Margareth Lanzinger, Jonas Lindstroem, Riikka Miettinen, Richard Paping, Wouter Ronsijn, Merja Uotila, Nadine Vivier

The enclosure of common land into smaller privately owned units of land by parliamentary intervention transformed the traditional open-field system of farming which gave even the poorest a share in the common land. Despite its long-term benefits, its methods and immediate consequences were controversial, dispossessing the rural poor from their land. This text analyzes the extent and impact of parliamentary enclosure regionally, examining the processes by which land was reorganized, cultivation extended into former waste lands and old practices transformed. It stresses the degree of local variation and the mixture of motives and effects which make the subject complex. The book also weighs up the evidence for the effect of enclosure on the poor, looking afresh at old conclusions and providing new insights.

This study describes the collision of values and conflict of purpose that arose when the mostly Protestant Anglo-Saxon suburbanites of Rodgers Park came into contact with the German and Luxembourger Catholics of rural West Ridge. A skilled urban historian, Zaltman describes the ensuing conflict in terms of battles over prohibiting taverns (wet vs. dry) -a key battle between the tavern and alehouse centered rural world of the Germans and the progressive, prohibitionist instincts of the middle class Protestants. Other conflicts over real estate, taxes, zoning and park creation are explicated with understanding (and some humor).

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.

Situated in the rugged mountain peaks and deep valleys of north-eastern Caucasus, Daghestan is home to more than 30 distinct peoples. Eachof these peoples has their own language yet they share a homogenous culture that has both withstood and absorbed centuries of external influence. This text offers an account of the swiftly vanishing traditional ways of life in the villages of this inaccessible mountain area, and how the Daghestanis of today are adapting to change.

Chinese urbanization, including the daily life, migration strategies, and life choices of villagers and townspeople, is the focus of this study by Chinese and North American scholars. From Tianjin in the north, to Tibet in the West, and to Guangdong and Fujian on the southeast coast, a tale is told of transforming countrysides, regional disparities, and the prospects of a fully urbanized China as the twenty-first century dawns. This first broad-scale anthropological investigation of Chinese urbanization captures both the dynamic essence of the urbanizations process and the remarkable vitality of post-reform Chinese society.

Chinese urbanization, including the daily life, migration strategies, and life choices of villagers and townspeople, is the focus of this study by Chinese and North American scholars. From Tianjin in the north, to Tibet in the West, and to Guangdong and Fujian on the southeast coast, a tale is told of transforming countrysides, regional disparities, and the prospects of a fully urbanized China as the twenty-first century dawns. This first broad-scale anthropological investigation of Chinese urbanization captures both the dynamic essence of the urbanizations process and the remarkable vitality of post-reform Chinese society.

This work examines the other side of the countryside, a place also inhabited (and visited) by women, children, teenagers, the elderly, gay men and lesbians, black and ethnic minorities, the unemployed and the poor. These groups have remained largely excluded by both rural policies and the representations of rural culture. The book charts the experiences of these marginalized groups and sets this exploration within the context of postmodern, poststructuralist, postcolonial and late feminist analysis. This theoretical framework reveals how notions of the rural have been created to reflect and reinforce divisions amongst those living in the countryside, another country far away from its idyllic image.

This book examines the 'other' side of the countryside, a place also inhabited (and visited) by women, children, teenagers, the elderly, gay men and lesbians, black and ethnic minorities, the unemployed and the poor. These groups have remained largely excluded by both rural policies and the representations of rural culture.
The book charts the experiences of these marginalised groups and sets this exploration within the context of postmodern, poststructuralist, postcolonial and late feminist analysis. This theoretical framework reveals how notions of the rural have been created to reflect and reinforce divisions amongst those living in the countryside, another country far away from its idyllic image.

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.

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.

Tanohata in the 1950s was an isolated fishing village in the Tohoku region of Japan. Life there was so miserable that those who could leave did, and those who could not stayed on in a state of demoralization. By the 1980s, however, Tanohata had not only joined the mainstream of Japanese culture and economic life, but had done so with an adroitness that attracted national notice. The story of that dramatic transformation, written from the perspective of one who has both observed and participated in the changes for the last 20 years, brings into dramatic focus what is happening throughout Japan in the 20th century. This study fills a gap in the research on rural Japanese culture and economy by focusing on a fishing rather than a rice-cultivating village. It challenges the assumption that Japanese political life is dominated by what is called ""vertical insularity"", and documents the role of charismatic leadership in a rural community where the traditional structure of the Japanese household provides not ony stability but also a basis for innovation and the acceptance of new ideas.

Genetically modified crops have become a key element of development strategies across the Global South, despite remaining deeply controversial. Proponents hail them as an example of 'pro-poor' innovation, while critics regard them as a threat to food sovereignty and the environment. The promotion of biotechnology is an integral part of 'new Green Revolution for Africa' interventions and is also intimately linked to the rise of 'philanthrocapitalism,' which advances business solutions to address the problem of poverty. Through interviews with farmers, policymakers and agricultural scientists, Jacqueline Ignatova shows how efforts to transform the seed sector in northern Ghana - one of the key laboratories of this 'new Green Revolution' - may serve to exacerbate the inequality it was notionally intended to address. But she also argues that its effects in Ghana have been far more complex than either side of the debate has acknowledged, with local farmers proving adept at blending traditional and modern agricultural methods that subvert the interests of global agribusiness.

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.

A comprehensive analysis of China's rural reforms, this book links local experiences to national policy, showing the dynamic tension in the reform process among state policy, local cadre power and self-interest, and the peasants' search for economic growth. Key topics covered include: the responsibility system, privatization and changing property rights, industrialization, social conflict, cadre corruption, urban-rural relations, conflict over land, rural urbanization, and the impact of globalization. The introduction skillfully integrates the themes that run throughout this work and the concluding chapter focuses on current and future problems in rural China.

A comprehensive analysts of China's rural reforms, this book links local experiences to national policy, showing the dynamic tension in the reform process among state policy, local cadre power and self-interest, and the peasants' search for economic growth. Key topics covered include: the responsibility system, privatization and changing property rights, industrialization, social conflict, cadre corruption, urban-rural relations, conflict over land, rural urbanization, and the impact of globalization. The introduction skillfully integrates the themes that run throughout this work and the concluding chapter focuses on current and future problems in rural China.

After the Ruins uses both official and unofficial records to explore a relatively ignored aspect of recent rural history: how the fields, farms, villages and market towns of Northern France were restored during the 1920s in the aftermath of the Great War. The book contains illustrations and many detailed maps and makes use of both official reports and unofficial critical commentaries.

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 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.