This paper considers how shifts within the social sciences towards conceptualising spatiality in relational terms have unfolded in rural studies in particular ways over the past decade or so. A period in which networks, connections, flows and mobility have all established themselves as compelling conceptual frames for research, the rural has…

This paper challenges us to consider the meaning of schooling for youth in the global south. We explore the ways in which young people living and learning on the outskirts of Kathmandu balance the visions and passions of modern schooling with social realities that are often quite incompatible. We depart from conventional analyses of modernity,…

In his presidential address, Jess Gilbert argues that big states, in alliance with social scientists, can work to democratize society. He points to two fascinating examples--the involvement of rural sociologists with local citizens for policy planning in the New Deal and similarly their role in the Farm Security Administration's Resettlement…

Climate change may be considered a natural disaster evolving in slow motion on a global scale. Increasing storm intensities, shifting rainfall patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and other manifold alterations are being experienced around the world. Climate has never been constant in any location, but human-induced changes associated…

Ongoing demographic, social, economic and cultural changes point to the dynamic and continually changing contexts of rural areas in Ireland and Northern Ireland. However, the influence of such changes on the lives of older people remains under-explored, particularly the question of how older people perceive, connect to and engage in their…

It is common to understand the governing of rural space as the outcome of a conflict between some romantic protectors of a lost past on the one hand, and the people who worry about creating economic values on the other. However, the power to shape the rural should not only be searched for in the open struggle between protectors and developers, but…

In this article, the author explores some particularly "luminous" paradoxes that have emerged from qualitative material gathered as part of an ethnographic study carried out over the last five years. The research, now a doctoral study, grew initially out of the author's own contradictory experiences of running learning provision in the…

This paper investigates the changing relationship between land, citizenship, and power in Brazil, where land-related policies have historically served to situate political and economic rights in the hands of an elite land-owning minority. In response, contemporary grassroots movements in Brazil, including the Landless Rural Workers Movement…

A pervasive anti-statism often blinds us to the democratic victories in the past and thus to possibilities in our future. This article argues that big government can democratize society and uses historical investigation to make the point. The study of history emancipates us from the tyranny of the present. Progressive social change has come about…

In the context of information and communication technologies in five Newfoundland coastal communities, this article deals with participatory research and outreach. Outreach in these communities, reeling from the near-collapse of the fishery and struggling to survive in a climate of neo-liberal restructuring, is considered to be a holistic…

Rural communities have experienced dramatic demographic, social, and economic transformations over the past 30 years. Historically characterized by close links between natural resources and social, cultural, and economic structures, few of today's rural communities remain heavily dependent upon traditional extractive industries like ranching,…

Critiques the usage of "rurality"--a key term in the field of "rural" studies. Suggests that the multiple meanings of "rurality" demonstrate the rupture of sign and signification discussed in recent debates concerning ideology, hegemony, and poststructuralism. Argues in favor of a productive dialog between Gramscian…

Extends the debate on rural restructuring by redefining families and households and their study; by considering the contributions of family scholarship to rural sociological issues; by assessing the methodological implications and challenges of integrating a family focus in rural sociology; and by reengaging rural sociology around important policy…

Examines socioeconomic forces affecting U.S. rural population. Describes signs of nation's maturity, changing national issues, and elements of rural diversity and social stratification. Discusses role of transportation, demise of animal agriculture, industrial and economic changes. Emphasizes conjectural nature of conclusions about society's…

Examines worldwide political, economic, and social transformations and their impact on agriculture, focusing on biotechnology. Discusses rise of international corporations and accompanying constraints on government power. Sees trend toward increasing agribusiness role in world food and agricultural sectors. Calls for broader views and research in…