This paper draws on the comparative and qualitative data from a triple case study carried out in three semi-rural early childhood education centres in Canada, India, and South Africa. The primary objective of this four year study was to provide in-depth understanding of the ways in which policy, practice, and culture intersect in semi-rural…

This paper examines the influence of farmer knowledge upon decision making processes. Drawing upon the sociological debates around the ideas of reflexive modernity and biotechnology as well as from classic adoption and diffusion studies, I explore the influences upon farmers' use of "Bacillus thuringiensis" (Bt) corn. Utilizing survey data…

This paper constructs an intertemporal substitution educational model based on endogenous growth theory and examines the rural education, farmer income and rural economic growth problems in China. It shows that the households originally with the same economic endowment but different education endowment take different growth routes, the income…

This paper explores the class complexion of the English and Welsh countryside utilising the National Statistics Socio-Economic Classification (or NS-SEC), as well as reflecting on the value of this classification given claims as to the "death of class" as a meaningful subject of analysis. The paper situates analysis using the NS-SEC in a…

The global agro-food system relies heavily on inorganic nitrogenous fertilizers. In addition to consuming enormous amounts of energy, this manufactured input contributes to the accumulation of reactive nitrogen in the biosphere and undermines the biological basis of agricultural production itself. While technological inefficiency and population…

The effect of personalization on mail survey response rates was examined in nine studies that included 17 comparisons under several research conditions. A study of this variable across multiple experiments in five agricultural experiment stations was undertaken because of conflicting results from previous research and from concern that the…

This paper is concerned with bringing together and drawing out some diverse strands of thought and action that are striving--from within a broadly green anti-capitalist agenda--to produce a rural space that is different from and a challenge to the mainstream trajectories that the production of the rural is taking in the global North. First, I…

Ask any teacher about their life as a teacher and they will begin with their experience of place. "First I taught there and then I moved there", the matter of time often hazy or more peripheral to the story of place. As Deleuze and Guattari (1987) argue, becomings are matters of geography more than history, our lives punctuated by…

The literature notes that natural disasters, including wildfires, that damage human settlements often have the short-term effect of "bringing people together." Less recognized is the fact that such events can also generate social conflict at the local level. This study examines the specific sources of such social conflict during and after…

Even though both farmers' markets and community supported agriculture were first developed to provide markets for farmers, recently the goals of food security have been attached to these market-based alternative food institutions, based on their potential to be "win-win" economic solutions for both small-scale farmers and low-income consumers.…

During China's economic transformation, much of the rural population migrated to urban areas in search of employment opportunities. "Left-behind children" are the product of this phenomenon and need significant attention. Our study adopted elementary school students in Sichuan province as the subjects. After carefully studying their…

Wellbeing is a well-used but ill-defined term in youth research. This paper describes research that explored the ways in which young people and youth workers define wellbeing. The findings suggest that both groups agreed that wellbeing was a multidimensional concept; however, the young people were more likely to consider wellbeing to be influenced…

In December 1980, the world's largest beef processing plant opened 10 miles west of Garden City, KS. Three years later another beef plant opened on Garden City's eastern edge. Full employment in the surrounding region meant that most of the 4000 workers needed to run these plants had to come from elsewhere--and they did. Garden City grew by…

This paper presents a longitudinal insight into the experiences of "Adam," a young boy who lives with his single-parent father (a farmer and builder) in a rural working-class community on the outskirts of a provincial town in Tasmania, Australia. Adam's story juxtaposes my representations of him as an eight year old in 1999 and as a 12…

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…