Course
"The rural everyday of geopolitics" - 3 ECTS
We have entered a new era in the geopolitics of agriculture and rural livelihoods. The decline of the United States’ power, the rise of China, and an assertive stance of Russia, have resulted in a multipolar global order.
In this graduate level course, we will interrogate the ways in which geopolitical rivalries manifest themselves and are responded to in rural areas around the world. Farm fields, as well as pastures and forests, have always been political domains, and the range of actors affecting rural livelihoods has become more diverse and complex in recent decades. It is imperative to weave geopolitics more strongly into analyses of trajectories of social, agrarian, and environmental change.
Registration
Using various analytical lenses, and drawing on a rich variety of scholarly and non-academic works, this workshop will explore the rural everyday of geopolitical rivalries. We will depart from the macro-level to the micro-level and back again, to examine whether, how and to what extent transformations in rural livelihood portfolios and land use practices have reflected geopolitical rivalries in recent decades, for instance in terms of the influx and use of technology, crop and seed varieties; changes in production relations; and, farms’ integration into markets. Examining these dynamics, we will discuss a series of questions, including: to what extent are rural actors’ decisions and practices influenced by “grand politics”? Do geopolitics bear more heavily on rural livelihoods in one locality than in another, and if so, why? How or where does intersectionality come into play? How and to what extent have people resisted or reworked external interventions or influences, and, in aiming to understand responses: does it matter who is intervening?
The course engages the dialectic of structure and agency and addresses the importance of multi-scalar and comparative research approaches. We will adopt an actor-oriented approach to analyse, not only to the ways in which rural communities have experienced geopolitics, but also to examine how they have responded to changes instigated by macro-level dynamics. Students will be invited to present their own case studies and actively engage in discussions. The comparative approach will encourage students to situate their research and findings in a broader context.
Key topics will include:
- Transformations under colonial rule (e.g., the expansion of cotton planting in Central Asia and the establishment of tea plantations in India, in the 19th century).
- The Green Revolution and its aftermath (e.g., the proliferation of hybrid seeds, and the growing role and control of corporate actors over agricultural input markets)
- SAPs and development paradigms (the growth of contract farming, shifts towards (export) cash crops, and penetration of corporate actors from the Global North)
- Development aid, agricultural technology, developments after 9/11 and the Arab Sprong (e.g., dynamics in the Middle East, Pakistan, Central Asia, Afghanistan)
- China’s nascent role in the global agrifood regime (competing narratives, local seed and agro-chemical markets)
Learning outcomes
After successful completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Apply multi-scalar research approaches and explore the role of multiple actors in affecting trajectories of social, agrarian, and environmental change;
- Attend to the temporal dimension of social, agrarian, and environmental change; and,
- Critically examine the dialectics of structure and agency and attend to the interplay between power configurations at different levels.
Activities
Lectures, student presentations, discussions, round table (excursion, under consideration)
Assessment
To complete the three credits possible for this course, participants will need to:
- Keep a journal in which they reflect on the readings, case studies and discussions
- Attend and actively participate in each seminar
- Prepare and be able to present their case study during the course
Target group and min/max number of participants
This course is intended for students doing a research master’s, PhDs, postdocs, and staff members who want to expand their understanding of the role of geopolitical rivalries, and the dialectics of structure and agency, in agrarian change across time and place, and learn more about the skills and analytical lenses to study these dynamics. In order to ensure opportunities for full discussions during the sessions, the minimum number of participants is 10 and the maximum 20.
Assumed prior knowledge
Participants should have a master’s or be in the final year of their master’s study in social sciences, political sciences or geography. Participants should have a master’s degree or be in the final year of their master’s study in social sciences or geography (preferably Ph.D. students with a focus on/interest in environmental/agrarian transformation).
Assessment
To complete the course successfully (and obtain the credits), participants will need to:
- Keep a journal in which they reflect on the readings, case studies, and discussions
- Attend and actively participate in each seminar
- Prepare and be able present their case study during the course
Course fee
| WGS PhD candidates with TSP | 300 |
| a) All other PhD candidates b) Postdocs and staff of the above mentioned Graduate Schools | 640 |
| All others | 900 |