This important ethnographic study explores the world-view of the Lohorung Rai, a hill tribe of about 3,000 members living in Eastern Nepal. These rice farmers have a tradition of migration combined with hunting and gathering. By examining Lohorung concepts and their discourse on self and emotion, this book explores the way in which ancestral influence dominates the daily lives and rituals of the Lohorung. It explores the 'other world' of the Lohorung within which their concepts about the nature of the person and the natural world can be understood.
This study will be relevant not only to Himalayan experts but to all anthropologists interested in culture, self and emotion.

Seeking to challenge negative perceptions within Japanese media and politics on the future of the countryside, the contributors to this book present a counterargument to the inevitable demise of rural society. Contrary to the dominant argument, which holds outmigration and demographic hyper-aging as primarily responsible for rural decline, this book highlights the spatial dimension of power differences behind uneven development in contemporary Japan. Including many fi eldwork-based case studies, the chapters discuss topics such as corporate farming, local energy systems and public healthcare, examining the constraints and possibilities of rural self-determination under the centripetal impact of forces located both in and outside of the country. Focusing on asymmetries of power to explore regional autonomy and heteronomy, it also examines "peripheralization" and the "global countryside," two recent theoretical contributions to the fi eld, as a common framework. Japan's New Ruralities addresses the complexity of rural decline in the context of debates on globalization and power differences. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, anthropology, human geography and politics, as well as Japanese Studies.

The Performance of Gender presents a vivid description of everyday life in order to explore the concept of performance for an anthropology of gender. A detailed and evocotive account of the lives of men and women in a South Indian fishing community reveals new ways of framing gender relations, the body and kinship. The ethnographic account is set within the context of social and cultural theory, notably the ideas of Judith Butler, Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault. The study sheds new light on the ways in which gender is understood as both performative, that is enacted through everyday practices, and also substantial and embodied, that is marked out in the separate sexual fluids and procreative capacities of husbands and wives.

After the Vietnam War, socialist governments ascended to power in all the countries of the former Indochina. In Laos, more than a decade of socialist reorganization was followed by economic liberalization in the late 1980s. Laotian women had traditionally sustained the household and local economy with their work in field, forest, and family, but political and economic changes markedly affected the context of rural women's prevailing sources of power and subordination. Socialist policies, for example, curtailed women's commercial activities while recognizing women's work in agriculture and child care. In this richly detailed volume, Carol Ireson draws on ten years of fieldwork and research to explore this metamorphosis among Laotian women. Throughout, she poses questions such as: What has happened to women's traditional sources of control over their own and others' activities since the 1975 socialist revolution? Have their traditional sources of power or autonomy expanded or contracted as changing conditions have allowed other groups to appropriate women's traditional resources and roles? Have the dramatic changes had different effects on rural women of differing ethnic backgrounds and varying economic means? Focusing on women from three major ethnic groups - the lowland Lao, the Khmu, and the Hmong - Ireson examines the different ways they have responded to political and economic changes. She shows us that the Laotian experience reveals in microcosm the processes of change toward specialization and integration of women's work into national and global economies and explains how this shift deeply affects women's lives.

This book presents an innovative approach to public archaeology in a rural community, which has had powerful results in terms of empowering a village community in Crete to become long-term guardians of their cultural heritage. Highlighting the theoretical and local contexts of the Philioremos Peak Sanctuary Public Archeology Project, this book explores the methodology and the project outcomes, and assesses best practice in the field of public archaeology within a rural community. As well as expanding the research on Minoan peak sanctuaries, the volume contributes to a greater understanding of how rural communities can be successfully engaged in the management of heritage, and is relevant to archaeologists and other heritage professionals wishing to understand the latest developments in public archaeology.

This book analyses the changing context and conditions of production and livelihood amongst Southeast Asia's peasants since the beginning of the nineteenth century. It argues that with demographic growth and the nineteenth century development of great global markets based on small-scale production, the size and economic significance of peasantries throughout the region was magnified. However, such changes brought with them new forces - stronger states, more regular legal systems, a revolution in communications, intensive commercialisation - which themselves worked to undermine the foundations of peasant society and, eventually, to transform peasants into farmers, workers and citizens.

The military coup that brought General Pervez Musharraf to power as Pakistan's tenth president resulted in the abolition of a century-old sharecropping system that was rife with corruption. In its place the military regime implemented a market reform policy of cash contract farming. Ostensibly meant to improve living conditions for tenant farmers, the new system, instead, mobilized one of the largest, most successful land rights movements in South Asia-still active today. In The Ethics of Staying, Mubbashir A. Rizvi presents an original framework for understanding this major social movement, called the Anjuman Mazarin Punjab (AMP). This group of Christian and Muslim tenant sharecroppers, against all odds, successfully resisted Pakistan military's bid to monetize state-owned land, making a powerful moral case for land rights by invoking local claims to land and a broader vision for subsistence rights. The case of AMP provides a unique lens through which to examine state and society relations in Pakistan, one that bridges literatures from subaltern studies, military and colonial power, and the language of claim-making. Rizvi also offers a glimpse of Pakistan that challenges its standard framing as a hub of radical militancy, by opening a window into to the everyday struggles that are often obscured in the West's terror discourse.

This book examines two subordinated groups--"untouchables" and women--in a village in Tamilnadu, South India. The lives and work of "untouchable" women in this village provide a unique analytical focus that clarifies the ways in which three axes of identity--gender, caste, and class--are constructed in South India. Karin Kapadia argues that subordinated groups do not internalize the values of their masters but instead reject them in innumerable subtle ways.Kapadia contends that elites who hold economic power do not dominate the symbolic means of production. Looking at the everyday practices, rituals, and cultural discourses of Tamil low castes, she shows how their cultural values repudiate the norms of Brahminical elites. She also demonstrates that caste and class processes cannot be fully addressed without considering their interrelationship with gender.

A debut historical novel based on the true story of a young woman in 1920s Virginia fighting to reclaim the daughter she was forced to give up, a case that culminated in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision. Virginia, 1924. Ruth Ann Riley is 17 years old when she gives birth to a baby girl. Unwed and under-educated, she's deemed "feeble-minded" -- just like her own mother -- and sent to live in a state-run institution where the doctors decide she must be sterilized "for the greater good." But Ruth Ann won't give up her baby Annabel or the hope of future children without a fight, even though her hardscrabble life and sixth-grade education have in no way prepared her to take on the Supreme Court of the United States. As Ruth Ann comes of age in a daunting world and struggles with secrets and scandals in her past, she finds unexpected allies, friendship and the possibility of love in the most unlikely of places. K.D. Alden weaves a harrowing and ultimately uplifting story based on a true American court case that had global ramifications. A reading group guide includes discussion questions, an author essay, and text from the actual historical documents of the case.

The failure to include gender in the economic history of rural development has severely limited our understanding of privatizing, collectivist and colonial economic policies that disrupted and transformed the lives of rural women and men in the modern world. This book is unique in its focus on female economic agency, and in its exploration of the latter virtue in comparative historical perspective. It presents the apparently disparate cases of 17th-century England, 20th-century Russia and the Soviet Union, and 20th-century Kenya, as their top-down modernization projects were implemented in similar fashion --particularly in the case of women. The female half of the population was largely absent from contemporary economic databases, but nevertheless stereotyped as obstacles to rational economic decision-making. Introducing rural women and their innovations into male-centered narratives of economic history lays the foundation for a more demographically balanced and realistic understanding of rural behavior and rural development. In this study, women's labor and land claims are the lens through which both female agency and the delegitimizing of women's land claims become more visible. Both policy-makers and their leading critics deployed virtually identical language to describe backward, unruly and invariably "unsightly" peasant women.

Reaching all the way back to the classical and medieval past, Teaching the Commons chronicles ideas and resulting policies that have shaped contemporary rural life and living in much of the industrial West. The book examines philosophical assumptions and charts their evolution into conventional wisdom about how human beings should meet their needs, govern themselves, and educate their children. Further, this book examines how policies emanating from these assumptions have slowly eroded the vitality of rural communities, finding that if there is sufficient interest in saving what is left of rural America, an educational agenda at the local level needs to be embraced by America's rural schools. Using concrete ideas generated in rural schools across the country, Teaching the Commons demonstrates that it is possible to simultaneously revitalize rural schools and communities. Through concerted curricular and pedagogical attention to place-the immediate locality-schools can contribute to rebuilding community in rural America on an educational foundation. Arguing that vital, self-governing communities rather than self-interested individuals represent the greatest hope for American democracy, Teaching the Commons lays out an institutional foundation that would turn the cultivation of civic virtue into an educational goal every bit as important and attainable as education for success in the economic market.

This engaging book sketches an intimate portrait of the life of Wang Fucheng, an illiterate peasant who served for thirty years as Communist party secretary of an impoverished village on the north China plain. Based on conversations over a seven-year period (1987-1994), between Wang Fucheng and Peter Seybolt the book unfolds as a continuous first-person narrative, framed by the author's overview and chapter introductions.Born in 1923, Wang Fucheng rose under the Communists from extreme poverty to a position of power and prestige in his village. His account provides a fascinating illustration of the process of social mobility during the Maoist era, the interaction between central and local leaders, and the way central policies were adapted at the village level. The book's compelling and evocative picture of life in rural China will appeal to scholars, students, and general readers alike.

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.

This book looks at the evolution of rural settlement in Scotland from the Mesolithic period through to the improving movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. The main emphasis is on changes in society and technology, but the book also considers how the development of the physical landscape laid the foundation for such changes. The author strikes a balance between general perspectives (including relevant contextual materials such as the political structures) and local studies, with much emphasis on individual sites. Lack of documentation prior to the 10th century places particular importance on the archaeological evidence, but imaginative interpretation of this evidence has led to a major re-evaluation. Ideas emphasizing continuity of settlement and local adaptation are replacing older 'invasionist' theories emphasizing Celtic war lords and broch-building pirates.

This short book is an outline of the laws and regulations relating to employment in England and Wales. It is for reference for those employing and employed in the rural community, and will be a primer for university and college students reading land and estate management. It charts the significant changes that have been made to the area of employment law over the last two decades, and highlights the areas that need to be considered in farming and rural land management, such as employment tribunals and ACAS's role in resolving disputes and grievances, seasonal workers, work visas and gangmaster legislation. It clearly lays out the legal requirements of contracts of employment, all aspects of discrimination ranging from age and disability, sexual orientation, marriage, pregnancy, race and religion to unfair or wrongful dismissal and redundancy. It is a precursor or prompt for land managers who seek specialized advice for ensuring appropriate compliance with the variety of topics that employment law now encompasses.

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.

How is religious conversion transforming American democracy? In one corner of Appalachia, a group of American citizens has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church and through it Putin's New Russia. Historically a minority immigrant faith in the United States, Russian Orthodoxy is attracting Americans who look to Russian religion and politics for answers to Western secularism and the loss of traditional family values in the face of accelerating progressivism. This ethnography highlights an intentional community of converts who are exemplary of much broader networks of Russian Orthodox converts in the United States. These converts sought and found a conservatism more authentic than Christian American Republicanism and a nationalism unburdened by the broken promises of American exceptionalism. Ultimately, both converts and the Church that welcomes them deploy the subversive act of adopting the ideals and faith of a foreign power for larger, transnational political ends. Offering insights into this rarely considered religious world, including its far-right political roots that nourish the embrace of Putin's Russia, this ethnography shows how religious conversion is tied to larger issues of social politics, allegiance, (anti)democracy, and citizenship. These conversions offer us a window onto both global politics and foreign affairs, while also allowing us to see how particular U.S. communities are grappling with social transformations in the twenty-first century. With broad implications for our understanding of both conservative Christianity and right-wing politics, as well as contemporary Russian-American relations, this book provides insight in the growing constellations of far-right conservatism. While Russian Orthodox converts are more likely to form the moral minority rather than the moral majority, they are an important gauge for understanding the powerful philosophical shifts occurring in the current political climate in the United States and what they might mean for the future of American values, ideals, and democracy.

In the past sheep-rearing was the main means of existence for most Bedouin. Today it is developing in a new direction. For some it is as important as ever, for others it has become only a subsidiary source of income and a safeguard against economic instability. This volume looks at the effects social, political and economic change has had upon the traditional livelihood of the Negev Bedouin. The author considers how, despite all the problems encountered - such as the expropriation of land by the authorities and the demolition of authorized dwellings - sheep-rearing is still considered to be essential and worthwhile for almost all households. Co-operation between the owners of flocks, shepherds, food suppliers and government officials is essential in the determination of grazing areas and pastoral arrangements. These varied interest groups ensure that sheep-rearing continues to occupy an important place in the Bedouin's cultural identity and the flock remains a unifying factor for the Bedouin family and Israeli society.

This volume, a study of a transhumant cattle-raising community in Spain, is based on the extensive fieldwork at La Nava de San Miguel, a village in the province of Avila in central Spain. It shows the social and economic factors upon which the continued vitality of this mountain village is based: the use of communal summer pastures; the transhumant groups which walk the cattle to the winter pastures over the mountains; and the system of taking turns for many tasks within the village. The book analyzes the dichotomy between the more rigid organization of life within the village and the organization of life outside the village, in the transhumant group which goes to the winter pastures in Extramadura.

The overall theme of this book concerns the multiplicity and complexities of discursive constructions of water in Western economies in relation to irrigation communities. The authors argue that the politics of place is given meaning in relation to local knowledges and within multiple and multiscalar institutional frameworks involved with the social, physical, economic and political practices associated with water. They are particularly concerned with water at the local level, including how it is exchanged, managed and given meaning. Using case studies from Australia and the United States of America, it is shown how water use and community relations, particularly during times of drought, are central to developing understandings about how communities challenge, adapt and respond to policy developments. The book also brings to light how unequal distribution of resources and risk conspicuously come to the surface during times of drought illustrating that water is a political subject occupying a unique position, moving between the natural and social worlds.

Traditionally, Non-Indian societies in Brazilian Amazonia - 'caboclo' - are treated by anthropologists as relics of the haphazard development of Amazonia - leftovers of the colonial enterprise and have therefore received little serious attention. This volume attempts to redress this imbalance by looking closely at the encompassing nature of peasant society in Brazilian Amazonia. The first part of the book is concerned with the concept of caboclo as it emerges in anthropological and Amazonianist disclosure. The second examines a historical 'caboclo' society (in Santarem, Para) from a broadly ethnographic viewpoint. Three different modes of peasant livelihood and their relation to the impact of the Transamazon Highway are then fully discussed, followed by a detailed examination of the 'sustainable- development' thesis using research from another part of Amazonia - the Guama River. Overall, this volume aims to examine the reasons for the relative 'invisibility' of caboclo society and to place it in a historical perspective.

As the first book in the Restructuring Rural Areas series, "Constructing the countryside" presents a new methodological approach to the analysis of rural change. The authors seek to link wider developments in the global political economy to the behaviour of local actors and, in so doing, they place research into rural studies much more firmly than hitherto in the mainstream of social science enquiry. The outcome is a book that promotes a truly interdisciplinary approach through which the constant "reconstruction" of the countryside can be properly understood. This holistic perspective, sustained by an historical analysis of rural change, has been made possible by the extensive research experience of the authors. The book is a product of the work done at the London Countryside Research Centre, which was set up in 1989 by the Economic and Social Research Council. The Centre's research has focused upon the social and political forces for change in rural areas and how these relate to rapid alterations in national economic circumstances and to public policies affecting the countryside (for example, the Common Agricultural Policy of the EC ). On the one hand, the book provides a set of i

Beautiful Villages gives a comprehensive review of rural construction practices in contemporary China through a number of projects, such as the intervention of artists and art exhibitions, industrialisation efforts, and the creation of new social landscapes. In order to explore the social and historical significance of recent architectural work in rural areas, the book presents around 40 projects, most of which are the works of some of the most influential architects in China. The perspective of Beautiful Villages on rural development provides valuable insight for both government officials and architects alike.

In this interdisciplinary volume, sociolinguists and sociologists explore the intersections of language, culture, and identity for rural populations around the world. Challenging stereotypical views of rural backwardness and urban progress, the contributors reveal how language is a key mechanism for constructing the meaning of places and the people who identify with them. With research that spans numerous countries and several continents, the chapters in this volume add broadly to knowledge about status and prestige, authenticity and belonging, rural-urban relations, and innovation and change among rural peoples and in rural communities across the globe.

Rural societies around the world are changing in fundamental ways, both at their own initiative and in response to external forces. The Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies examines the organisation and transformation of rural society in more developed regions of the world, taking an interdisciplinary and problem-focused approach. Written by leading social scientists from many countries, it addresses emerging issues and challenges in innovative and provocative ways to inform future policy. This volume is organised around eight emerging social, economic and environmental challenges: Demographic change. Economic transformations. Food systems and land. Environment and resources. Changing configurations of gender and rural society. Social and economic equality. Social dynamics and institutional capacity. Power and governance. Cross-cutting these challenges are the growing interdependence of rural and urban; the rise in inequality within and between places; the impact of fiscal crisis on rural societies; neoliberalism, power and agency; and rural areas as potential sites of resistance. The Routledge International Handbook of Rural Studies is required reading for anyone concerned with the future of rural areas.