Agrarian Change and Rural Development

Course Type	Course Code	No. Of Credits
Foundation Core	SHE2ED322	4

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course aims to provide a theoretical and practical understanding of agrarian change and rural livelihoods in the “marginal ecologies” of the Global South. Instead of “mainstream” agriculture in the more commercialized river valley regions of the world, it focuses on the less-studied upland and dryland agrarian regions. These regions are home to a majority of the world’s rural poor (especially indigenous) population, and contribute a major share of global food production. Smallholders in the uplands are increasingly combining settled/shifting cultivation and pastoralism with non-farm rural livelihoods, and circular migration for wage work is a significant aspect of their lived reality.

The course aims to familiarize students with critical agrarian studies, political economy and political ecology perspectives on contemporary agrarian and rural issues. Its primary focus is on the life worlds of rural ‘smallholders’ and the state policies and everyday practices that shape the lives of people in these ‘marginal ecologies’. It will help students to understand the role of migration, mobility and diversification into non-farm livelihoods in their coping strategies to deal with ecological, social, economic and policy-related risks.

The course will provide students with inter-disciplinary theoretical perspectives for situating macro-level (from ‘above’) debates on agriculture/rural development within larger developmental discourses. It will use case studies from South and Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America to illustrate the key learning objectives.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

To understand some classical debates on the role of rural areas and agriculture in economic development
To understand the contemporary contestations, negotiations, risks and opportunities involved in land-based livelihoods in marginal ecologies of the global South
To question and problematize binaries like urban-rural, local-global, traditional -Western, indigenous-scientific, farm-nonfarm, field-forest, and community-state in the present rural context

LEARNING OUTCOMES

On the successful completion of the course, the students will be able to:

Read, comprehend and analyse complex interdisciplinary texts pertaining to the role of agriculture in economic development in the global South
Critically analyse socio-economic and environmental changes in agrarian and rural regions of the global South in the era of globalization
Understand the importance of economic and environmental risks, hazards and vulnerability in rural livelihoods for small/marginal farmers and livestock herders
Understand and analyse through real-world case studies the diverse social, political and environmental challenges to sustainable rural livelihoods
Design and carry out careful field-based enquiry into livelihood and natural resource management decision-making by land-dependent rural populations

Module	Title
	Introduction to agrarian studies
	Globalization and agriculture
	The political economy of land, labour and rural livelihoods Part 1
	The political economy of land, labour and rural livelihoods Part 2
	Risk, vulnerability and local coping strategies in drylands
	Marginality, power and production in the uplands
	Territoriality, property and contemporary land reforms
	Agrarian and rural livelihoods on the farm-forest frontier
	Migration, mobility and contemporary agropastoral livelihoods
	Field study: Researching the rural

INDICATIVE READINGS

Agarwal, A. and K. Sivaramakrishnan. 2001. Introduction: Agrarian environments. In: Social nature: Resources, representations and rule in India (eds. Agarwal, A. and K. Sivaramakrishnan). Pp. 1-22. Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Bernstein H. (2002). Land Reform: Taking a Long(er) View, in Journal of Agrarian Change vol. 2 (4): pp. 433-463.
Bernstein, H. (2010). Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.
Byres, Terence J., (2003). “Agriculture and Development: The Dominant Orthodoxy and an Alternative View”, in H-J. Chang (ed) Rethinking Development Economics London: Anthem Press. Chapter 11.
Chimhowu, Admos, and Phil Woodhouse. ―Vernacular Land Markets and the Changing Face of Customary Land Tenure in Africa.‖ Forum for Development Studies 32, no. 2 (December 1, 2005): 385–414. https://doi.org/10.1080/08039410.2005.9666321
Gidwani V. 2000. Laboured landscapes: Agro-ecological change in central Gujarat India. In: Agrawal A, Sivaramakrishnan K, eds. Agrarian environments. Durham: Duke University Press.
Kay, C. (2009). ‗Development strategies and rural development: exploring synergies, eradicating poverty‘, Journal of Peasant Studies, 36 (1): 103-137.
Li TM. 1999. “Marginality, Power and Production: Analyzing Upland Transformations‖. In: Li TM, ed. Transforming the Indonesian Uplands: Marginality, power and production. London and New York: Routledge.
Li, Tania (2009). Exit from Agriculture: A Step Forward or a Step Backward for the Rural Poor? Journal of Peasant Studies 36(3): 629-636
Mortimore, Michael (1998), ―Roots in the African Dust‖, UK, Cambridge University Press. Chapters 3, 4 and 5.
Pattenden, J. (2016). Labour, state and society in rural India. Manchester University Press. Chapter 2.
Scoones, Ian (2015). Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development. Halifax and Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.
Scoones, Ian et al. Hazards and Opportunities: Farming livelihoods in dryland Africa - Lessons from Zimbabwe. London and New Jersey: Zed Books Ltd., 1996. Chapters 4-7.
Turner, Matthew D. & Oumarou Moumouni (2019) Mosaics of property: control of village land in West Africa, The Journal of Peasant Studies, 46:6, 1167-1191, DOI:10.1080/03066150.2018.1439931

ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY

In this course students attend two interactive weekly sessions of two hours each, consisting of lectures, in-class discussions, film screenings and guided reading. These will be supplemented by regular weekly tutorials, as well as a field visit that will be tied to the taught modules.

The assessment structure is as follows:

Assessment	Weight	Description	Skills
A1	30%	Test on modules 1,2 & 3	Reading & Comprehension, Analysis, non-academic writing, visual presentation
A2	30%	Test on Modules 4, 5 & 6	R&C, Analysis, Critical thinking, Academic writing
A3	40%	Field report and summative presentation - Researching the Rural	Critical thinking; Research design; Ethical reasoning and intercultural knowledge; oral and visual