First Published in 1964. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The key issues facing rural life and the rural church today are worth serious thought, serious theological reflection, and serious empirical evidence. The twenty-eight articles drawn together for the first time in this reader illustrate the significant contribution made to these debates over the past decade by the journal Rural Theology. The articles concentrate on the themes of perspectives from the Bible, perspectives from ordinary theology, theological and sociological perspectives, historical perspectives listening to visitors, listening to the community, listening to churchgoers, listening to church leaders and satisfaction and stress in ministry. The authors include voices from the Anglican, Baptist, Methodist and Pentecostal Churches, from England, Scotland and Wales. Rural Life and Rural Church provides an invaluable resource for clergy and lay Christians involved in rural ministry initial and continuing ministerial education and formation Christian men and women living in the countryside.

For generations, coastal fishermen, working at the very fringe between land and sea, have fished salmon and herring using methods passed down from father to son. Some of these ancient traditions have been traced back as far as the days when the men from Scandinavia colonised these lands in the eighth and ninth centuries; others are simply nineteenth century in origin. Sadly, in recent years stocks have dwindled and regulations limit local fishing practices. Today, some surviving methods, such as haaf-netting, are in danger of dying out, whilst other traditional fisheries now lie abandoned. Though herring stocks have recovered from their late twentieth-century decline, the Atlantic salmon is now under immense threat and more danger of extinction than ever before. Tracing and describing his own journey from North Devon, through Wales and up to the top of Scotland, along with interviews with many fishermen, both retired and working, Mike Smylie explores the social history of these indigenous fishing traditions and communities, presenting a picture of their lives, past, present and future.

This book examines the transformations of rural society and economy in the UK and US during the last half-century, and explores the significance of these trends and changes for community sustainability, quality of life and the environment. While both the UK and US are highly urbanised, rural people and communities continue to contribute to national identity, economic development and social solidarity, as well as to environmental quality. Contributors explore the degree to which rural people exhibit agency and autonomy, rather than being merely passive in the face of exogenous forces of change in a globalised world. They also illuminate very different policy approaches to rural policy in two advanced capitalist societies often thought to be similar, and show how fundamental differences in rural policy approaches of the US and the UK are based on different social ideologies and values that shape policies relating to rural areas. This book will help to stimulate transatlantic dialogue on rural scholarship and rural policy analysis, while also contributing to theory and policy development. It will be of interest to researchers, students and everyone involved in the policy and practice of rural development.

Community development emerged as a recognisable occupational activity in the United Kingdom in the 1950s. Since then, whilst struggling to remain true to its basic values it has often been manipulated to serve differing policy and political purposes. This unique Reader traces its changing fortunes through a selection of readings from key writers. It will be invaluable to those pursuing community development careers, for activists, and for all those teaching, training and practising community development.

Seasonality is a severe constraint to sustainable rural livelihoods and a driver of poverty and hunger, particularly in the tropics. Many poor people in developing countries are ill equipped to cope with seasonal variations which can lead to drought or flood and consequences for agriculture, employment, food supply and the spread of disease. The subject has assumed increasing importance as climate change and other forms of development disrupt established seasonal patterns and variations. This book is the first systematic study of seasonality for over twenty years, and it aims to revive academic interest and policy awareness of this crucial but neglected issue. Thematic chapters explore recent shifts with profound implications for seasonality, including climate change, HIV/AIDS, and social protection. Case study chapters explore seasonal dimensions of livelihoods in Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi), Asia (Bangladesh, China, India), and Latin America (Peru). Others assess policy responses to adverse seasonality, for example through irrigation, migration and seasonally-sensitive education. The book also includes innovative tools for monitoring seasonality, which should enable more appropriate responses.

This book is written for individuals engaged in formulating and implementing policies, plans, programmes and projects affecting rural areas of poor countries. Recognition of the contribution that qualitative enquiry can make has increased significantly, but a succinct and non-technical introduction to when and why qualitative techniques of enquiry should be favoured has been lacking; and this what this book sets out to provide. The primary concern is how the art of collecting data necessary to inform rural development practice can be improved, taking into account existing organizational and resource constraints. The text defines 'qualitative' in this context; surveys the types of information that practitioners of rural developing communities need to assemble; describes the main general techniques in use; recommends areas of potential improvements; and looks to the future of qualitative enquiry in the light of present trends and likely information needs.

Urban Dependency investigates the risks of urban populations that cannot survive without the massive consumption of basic rural products like food, textiles, fossil fuels, and other energy-rich goods that are harvested by a shrinking rural base. Thomas and Fulkerson argue that though essential, rural workers and communities are poorly compensated for their labor that is both dangerous and highly exploitative. While the rural population is already shrinking, the authors predict that harsh political-economic conditions will only fuel further rural-urban migration, worsening the problem of urban dependency. The authors apply their theory of the energy economy to explore a balance between the supply and demand of energy resources that promotes rural justice.

Rural-oriented scholarship in criminology is growing, in part motivated by governmental, community and academic recognition that, despite stereotypes of the 'rural idyll', crime and justice are significant issues in the rural landscape. Using the notion of 'crossroads' to provide a unique lens through which to examine realities of rural crime, Crossroads of Rural Crime: Representations and Realities of Transgression in the Australian Countryside provides a dynamic understanding of the nature of rural life and ways in which transgression manifests itself in the context of a presumed rural-urban divide. Common myths regarding rural crime are challenged by exploring its diverse dimensions from a central conceptual focal point; the many 'roads' that lead into and out of rural spaces, whether literal, virtual or figurative. With a focus on the Australian countryside, the authors examine issues such as drug abuse, persecution of wildlife, rural penal practices, and health in Indigenous communities. The first substantive edited collection to focus on notions of the mobility of crime within, to and from rural spaces, this interdisciplinary collection draws together contributions from criminology, politics, sociology, Indigenous studies, literature and anthropology to significantly contribute to our understanding of rural crime.

AIDS epidemics continue to threaten the livelihoods of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. Three decades after the disease was first recognized, the annual death toll from AIDS exceeds that from wars, famine and floods combined. Yet despite millions of dollars of aid and research, there has previously been little detailed on-the-ground analysis of the multifaceted impacts on rural people. Filling that gap, this book brings together recent evidence of AIDS impacts on rural households, livelihoods, and agricultural practice in sub-Saharan Africa. There is particular emphasis on the role of women in affected households, and on the situation of children. The book is unique in presenting micro-level information collected by original empirical research in a range of African countries, and showing how well-grounded conclusions on trends, impacts and local responses can be applied to the design of HIV-responsive policies and programmes. AIDS impacts are more diverse than we previously thought, and local responses more varied - sometimes innovative, sometimes desperate. The book represents a major contribution to our understanding of the impacts of AIDS in the epidemic's heartland, and how these can be managed at different levels.

Places of worship are the true building blocks of communities where people of various genders, age, and class interact with each other on a regular basis. These places are also rallying points for immigrants, helping them make the transition to a new, and often hostile environment. The Many Rooms of this House is a story about the rise and decline of religion in Toronto over the past 160 years. Unlike other studies that concentrate on specific denominations, or ecclesiastical politics, Roberto Perin's ecumenical approach focuses on the physical places of worship and the local clergy and congregants that gather there. Perin's timely and nuanced analysis reveals how the growing wealth of the city stimulated congregations to compete with one another over the size, style, materials, and decoration of their places of worship. However, the rise of individualism has negatively affected these same congregations leading to multiple church closings, communal breakdown, and redevelopments. Perin's fascinating work is a lens to understanding how this once overwhelmingly Protestant city became a symbol of diversity.

The metropolis has been the near exclusive focus of queer scholars and queer cultures in America. Asking us to look beyond the cities on the coasts, Scott Herring draws a new map, tracking how rural queers have responded to this myopic mindset. Interweaving a wide range of disciplines--art, media, literature, performance, and fashion studies--he develops an extended critique of how metronormativity saturates LGBTQ politics, artwork, and criticism. To counter this ideal, he offers a vibrant theory of queer anti-urbanism that refuses to dismiss the rural as a cultural backwater.

Impassioned and provocative, Another Country expands the possibilities of queer studies beyond its city limits. Herring leads his readers from faeries in the rural Midwest to photographs of white supremacists in the deep South, from Roland Barthes's obsession with Parisian fashion to a graphic memoir by Alison Bechdel set in the Appalachian Mountains, and from cubist paintings in Lancaster County to lesbian separatist communes on the northern California coast. The result is an entirely original account of how queer studies can--and should--get to another country.

This volume offers insights into how rural areas of Britain have been represented on film, from the silent era through both world wars and on into the twenty-first century. It is the first book to deal exclusively with representations of the British countryside on film. The contributors demonstrate that the countryside has provided Britain and its constituent nations and regions with a dense range of spaces in which cultural identities have been and continue to be worked through. Overall, the book demonstrates that British cinema provides numerous examples of how national identity and the identity of the countryside have been constructed through filmic representation, and how British rural films can help us to understand the relationship between the cultural identities of specific areas of Britain and the landscapes they inhabit. -- .

It is easy to see bicycles as commonplace machines, but at the end of the nineteenth-century there was no other piece of technology which attracted the same level of excitement, discussion or controversy. Significant societal shifts followed the invention of the modern bicycle and with cycling's ever-increasing popularity there has never been a better time to tell this story. Revolution delves into the social history of cycling in 1890s Britain while exploring international parallels that existed in countries such as the US, France and Australia. Drawing on a range of sources from cycling club journals to the writings of H.G. Wells, the book illuminates the major impact the bicycle had on the day-to-day lives of people across the social spectrum with millions experiencing a cheap and personalised means of transport for the first time. Particularly for women it was known as the great emancipator from crib, kitchen and convention. Affordable to the working class, cycling dramatically increased the number of potential marriage partners, bridging the gaps between villages, to the extent that leading biologist Steve Jones has ranked the invention of the bicycle as the most important event in recent human evolution. From cycling as a source of fashion and socialising in sporting clubs, to travel around the British countryside, to its importance for widening the gene pool and its role in the women's liberation movement Revolution presents the bicycle as a marvel of modern technology that transformed Britain and the world over.

This book distinguishes conceptually between indigenous and constructed social capital and the associated spontaneous and induced collective action for rural development and natural resource preservation. While some of the case studies in this book show that induced collective action can lead to cost-effective, community-centric and empirically grounded rural development initiatives, other case studies show that spontaneous collective action, based on indigenous social capital, can result in resource preservation, positive development outcomes, and resistance to the excesses engendered by conventional development. The authors also explore a hybrid form whereby spontaneous collective action is given a more effective and sustainable shape by an outside organization with experience of induced collective action. Exploring alternative community-centric paths to development, especially those attuned with sustainability imperatives, is part of a global search for solutions. While the volume draws on the Pakistani case, the problem with conventional development approaches and the need for complementary alternatives is not unique to only this country; and the volume has broader relevance to students and researchers across the fields of social policy and development.

Research on late nineteenth and early twentieth century German society has concentrated overwhelmingly on life in the cities. By contrast, and despite the fact that almost one third of Germans were still working in agriculture as late as 1914, Germany's rural society remains relatively unexplored. Although historians have begun to correct this imbalance, very few full-length studies of social relations east of the Elba in this period have been published. This book concentrates on social relations in the 1,500 estate villages (GutsdArfer) of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 'Social relations' include the chains of command and obedience, the relative legal positions of owner and workers, contractual-relations, economic relations; the mutual economic dependency of estate owners and workforce, as well as the value systems of owners and labourers which informed these relationships. With its focus on both rural elites and workers, this study differs from much other work on rural Germany. For while a number of historians have examined the rural elites, few have chosen to investigate the lower strata of rural society. This book makes use of overlooked autobiographical accounts, statements given by workers at labour exchanges and before military authorities, as well as confiscated letters, jokes and anecdotes to provide greater insight into the perspective of rural workers.

Examines the commodification of land rights and the effect of international licences for resource extraction on the pastoral communities of Sudan. Nowhere has a range of case studies of Sudan been brought together in a single volume. Given the concern with the growing number and complexity of conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan there is a significant readership in academic circles and from those involved in humanitarian organisations of all kinds. Professor Peter Woodward, University of Reading "A timely contribution to an important set of debates ... tackles questions emerging from discussions about modernisation, urbanisation and globalisation from an explicitly local angle with regards to Sudan." Dr Harry Verhoeven, University of Oxford Sudan experiences one of the most severe fissures between society and territory in Africa. Not only were its international borders redrawn when South Sudan separated in 2011, but conflicts continue to erupt over access to land: territorial claims are challenged by local and international actors; borders are contested; contracts governing the privatization of resources are contentious; and the legal entitlements to agricultural land are disputed. Under these new dynamics of land grabbing and resource extraction, fundamental relationships between people and land are being disrupted: while land has become a global commodity, for millions it still serves as a crucial reference for identity-formation and constitutes their most important source of livelihood. This book seeks to disentangle the emerging relationships between people and land in Sudan. The first part focuses on the spatial impact of resource-extracting economies: foreign agricultural land acquisitions; Chinese investments in oil production; and competition between artisanal and industrial gold mining. Detailed ethnographic case studies in the second part, from Darfur, South Kordofan, Red Sea State, Kassala, Blue Nile, and Khartoum State, show how rural people experience "their" land vis-a-vis the latest wave of privatization and commercialization of land rights. Joerg Gertel is Professor of Economic Geography at Leipzig University; Richard Rottenburg is Chair of Anthropology at the University of Halle; Sandra Calkins is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle

This book presents the outcomes of the trans- and interdisciplinary research project NEMo (Nachhaltige Erfullung von Mobilitatsbedurfnissen im landlichen Raum - Sustainable Fulfilment of Mobility Needs in Rural Areas). Due to demographic change, it is becoming increasingly difficult for rural districts and communities to maintain a basic set of public transport services such as bus and train transit without encountering issues regarding necessary social participation, sensible regional value creation and, last but not least, achievable environmental protection goals. At the same time, the demand for mobility in rural areas will continue to rise in the future, e.g. due to the concentration of medical care facilities and shopping centres close to cities. Focusing on the development of sustainable and innovative mobility services and business models, this book explains how new mobility offers can be created in which citizens themselves become mobility providers. To do so, it combines the findings of the individual research groups with external contributions from science and practice.

How prisons became economic development strategies for rural Appalachian communities As the United States began the project of mass incarceration, rural communities turned to building prisons as a strategy for economic development. More than 350 prisons have been built in the U.S. since 1980, with certain regions of the country accounting for large shares of this dramatic growth. Central Appalachia is one such region; there are eight prisons alone in Eastern Kentucky. If Kentucky were its own country, it would have the seventh highest incarceration rate in the world. In Coal, Cages, Crisis, Judah Schept takes a closer look at this stunning phenomenon, providing insight into prison growth, jail expansion and rising incarceration rates in America's hinterlands. Drawing on interviews, site visits, and archival research, Schept traces recent prison growth in the region to the rapid decline of its coal industry. He takes us inside this startling transformation occurring in the coalfields, where prisons are often built on top of old coalmines, including mountaintop removal sites, and built into community planning approaches to crises of unemployment, population loss, and declining revenues. By linking prison growth to other sites in this landscape-coal mines, coal waste, landfills, and incinerators-Schept shows that the prison boom has less to do with crime and punishment and much more with the overall extraction, depletion, and waste disposal processes that characterize dominant development strategies for the region. Schept argues that the future of this area now hangs in the balance, detailing recent efforts to oppose its carceral growth. Coal, Cages, Crisis offers invaluable insight into the complex dynamics of mass incarceration that continue to shape Appalachia and the broader United States.

Take your knowledge of the needs of the rural homeless to the next level This groundbreaking text examines research methodologies for studying the homeless, rural homeless policy, and the lives of today's rural homeless. It gives a thorough overview of the issues faced by this unique sector and outlines specific avenues for further research. The authors' insightful data analysis, real life findings, and specific case examples offer useful and research-based approaches to improve the difficult situation of the rural homeless, using a family health approach well suited to addressing the issues that affect them. Since services for the homeless are most often located in cities, the rural homeless are at a physical disadvantage. Because they are unable to utilize the services provided for the urban homeless, their needs often go unmet. Researchers and social service professionals face the same dilemma. Homelessness in Rural America addresses these issues by making vital research techniques, difficult-to-find data, and strategies for practice easy to access, understand, and put to use. Homelessness in Rural America: Policy and Programs examines: the current condition of the rural homeless factors that can increase the probability of a rural individual becoming homeless the influence of welfare programs on the rural homeless issues faced by the rural homeless and how a family health approach can treat these issues the research methodology used to study the rural homeless micro- and macro-level solutions to rural homeless problems Students and educators will benefit from Homelessness in Rural America's micro- and macro-level approaches to intervention. Policy planners will discover the further complications that have arisen from welfare programs. As the homeless population continues to increase, Homelessness in Rural America becomes even more essential. The rural homeless are often overlooked in the social sciences literature, and this book fills that void with its rare and well-organized information.

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).

This book comprises the proceedings of a rural technologies conference organised by the Rural Technology Action Group (RuTAG), which was conceptualized and initiated by Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India R. Chidambaram in 2003-04. The book highlights case studies and research into providing science and technology interventions for the development of rural areas. Covering various aspects of research carried out in the area of rural technologies, it offers a valuable resource for researchers, professionals, and policymakers alike.

The newest volume of the eclectic biannual anthology from Greenhorns, a grassroots network for recruiting, promoting, and supporting new American farmers. The New Farmer's Almanac Volume VI: Adjustments and Accommodations seeks to recognize our own collective agency in the face of sizable uncertainties. The morphing climate, ongoing culture of land dispossession, continuing global pandemic, shifting and intensifying weather patterns, and migrations of all species—spurned by political and environmental upheaval—are considered within. There is adaptability in each bloom of algae; tiny particles of inspiration can enliven lives and farm systems; the natural currents and connected sentience of the living earth moves genetic material. Dynamic flux and rapid change remain possible. The power of the forces—the river, the wind—are summoned and given thanks, like our ancestors did. Here, we tune to the potential of the commons. Contributors from around the Earth reflect on natural systems, logistics of change, localization, resource sharing, and preservation; we eye new experiments in planting, seed breeding, and composting. The past is contextualized by the present, informing our ideas for the future. Climate grief and cognitive dissonance are examined among imaginations of urban food systems and equitable access. Readers are invited to envision tweaks to the carbon cycle; to see intercropping as a life practice and sharing dinner as an embodied preservation of cultural foodways. This compendium of ideas, strategies, and arguments honors the almanac tradition in featuring archival and contemporary words and artwork. Photos, maps, prints, drawings, and gems from the archives rest—and agitate—among personal essays, reports from the field, poetry, and interviews. Join us in exploring resilience, responsiveness, adaptation, and accommodation. Featured contributors include: Fallen Fruit Collective The Farwoods Futurefarmers Suzanne Husky Oliver Kellhammer Nance Klehm The Land Institute Gary Snyder Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino of Cafe Ohlone Maia Wikler

This book describes a participatory case study of a small family farm in Maharashtra, India. It is a dialectical study of cultivating cultivation: how paddy cultivation is learnt and taught, and why it is the way it is. The paddy cultivation that the family is doing at first appears to be 'traditional'. But by observation and working along with the family, the authors have found that they are engaging in a dynamic process in which they are questioning, investigating, and learning by doing. The authors compare this to the process of doing science, and to the sort of learning that occurs in formal education. The book presents evidence that paddy cultivation has always been varying and evolving through chance and necessity, experimentation, and economic contingencies. Through the example of one farm, the book provides a critique of current attempts to sustain agriculture, and an understanding of the ongoing agricultural crisis.