Rural Sociology
The Rural Sociology group, with chair Han Wiskerke, recombines different sociological theories and interdisciplinary approaches to study the many forms of power, inequality and unevenness. It starts from the everyday life of people to understand transformation processes in agriculture, food provisioning, and rural development from a comparative perspective.
Research themes
Agrarian change
We aim to understand, explain, and influence the roots and implications of the social and environmental crises of our times, and of their alternatives, for agrarian communities, agricultural practices, and rural life.
Food provisioning
Our research focusses on diverse forms of food provisioning, alternative food economies, and food governance in rural and urban settings.
Rural development
We study the ongoing transformations in rural, emerging rural-urban relations, the underlying power dynamics and the politics of everyday lives.
Education
Education by Rural Sociology
We teach courses on topics linked to rurality, food provisioning and place-based development. Within these fields of research, we offer possibilities to do a BSc- or MSc-thesis or an internship. We teach in a number of different bachelor and master programmes.
Publications & Projects
Our research provides a theoretically informed understanding of issues of equity, governance, oppression, resistance, and hope by rethinking of possible alternative futures for a more sustainable, just and inclusive society. We publish on a regular basis in scientific journals, professional journals, scientific and popular books, and proceedings.
Highlighted projects
Highlighted publications
Chair Holder
Han Wiskerke is since 2004 Professor and Chair of Rural Sociology. His research activities initially focussed on a) the dynamics of multifuntional agriculture and b) the dynamics of alternative food networks and their impact on rural and regional development. Han has supervised close to 30 PhD students and is currently supervisor of approximately 20 PhD projects in the fields of food sociology, food policy, and rural and regional development.
prof.dr.ir. JSC (Han) Wiskerke
Professor / Chairholder
People of Rural Sociology
Each chair group of Wageningen University & Research, under leadership of a professor, has its own area of expertise. Meet the people of Rural Sociology
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