Category Archives: General

General issues.

RSO Students at Summer school at Kyoto University in Japan

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20150914_144117On the fifth day of our program of the 2015 Kyoto Graduate Seminar on Economic Development and Sustainability Studies we went on a field trip excursion on food, agriculture and environment. The bus from Kyoto University brought us into the beautiful foresty hills just outside of Kyoto, where we visited Yamaguni Sakikage Center and Tagayashiuta Farm. The Yamaguni Sakikage Center makes, grows and develops various typical Japanese products such as the basic ingredient for the well known miso soup. The miso is made by fermented ecologically produced soybeans and said to have many health benefits to it. The center is a reaction to the increasing depopulation of Kyoto’s rural backyard, mainly populated by elderly  part-time farmers, and dependency on overseas import of genetically modified soybeans. Continue reading →

Call for Paper Abstracts – Sustainable and Just Rural Transitions: Connections and Complexities

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FoodGovernance's avatarFood Governance

XIV World Congress of Rural Sociology
August 10-14, 2016,  Toronto, Canada
Call for Paper Abstracts: Open May 19 – November 1, 2015
Sustainable and Just Rural Transitions: Connections and Complexities
Global environmental changes, shifting resource scarcities, deepening social inequalities, both innovation and crisis in urban centers, and new patterns of voluntary and involuntary migrations are among the conditions and dynamics now shaping the futures of rural places and people. Intensifying and intertwining forces of commodification, industrialization,  neoliberalization and globalization over the last several decades have produced uneven and arguably illusory gains, given evidence of the increasingly precarious position of labour and livelihoods throughout the rural world and the widespread distribution of environmental harm and ecological degradation. Within these general patterns and trends, circumstances can vary greatly across rural contexts within and between continents.
Rigorous analysis of the interconnected challenges now experienced by rural people and places, as well as…

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On Becoming: MSc Thesis on Undocumented Migrants in the Netherlands

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On Becoming: An Ethnographic Account on the Importance of Social Relationships for Undocumented Migrants in the Netherlands

This ethnographic and descriptive account argues for the importance of personal relationships for the ‘integration’ of undocumented migrants in the Netherlands from the perspective of those who ‘live it’. Following three personal stories we can see that social networks are crucial as they provide access to necessary resources and enable undocumented migrants to practically arrange their existence. But in addition, because these interactions are built on personal connections and allow for intimacy they enable a deeper sense of belonging. This indicates that, although undocumented migrants are formally ex­cluded from any state services, they may in fact participate economically and socially due to their personal social network. As such, they enable a different perspective on the mean­ing and methods of integration. Because in a domain highly controlled by the state these three personal stories show that integration may also be seen as a trajectory of becoming; as a constant social process based on affective and personal relationships that take place in the social domain. Integration as such should not be seen as a procedural process as only described by the state but instead as an affective process in which people assemble socially. This enables a reconceptualization of integration and a re-envisioning of the role of the state in social life.

On Becoming is a MSc thesis written by Vera Ribbens and supervised by Alberto Arce (SDC) and Joost Jongerden (RSO). The thesis can be accessed by following this link: http://edepot.wur.nl/356124