Migration – sixth post RUW-RSO studytrip to Poland

RUW Foundation and the Rural Sociology Group organized a studytrip to Poland. In a 10 day intensive program different cities and rural areas in Poland were visited, interesting people and organizations met and farm work is done. The theme of the trip is “Glocalise”. Students are asked to prepare themselves well on different themes in groups before leaving and to write a concluding reflexive paper on their impressions and findings, and to write a blog. This sixth blog is about migration by:

Diand Laarman

wooffing groupIn the morning and afternoon, we were WWOOFing at Ekozagroda farm again. Today, we were divided into 4 groups for 4 tasks including weeding in the field, making spiral garden, repairing the fence and rebuilding the old house at the farm. Everybody had their hands dirty. At 1 pm., it was a lunch time. In Poland, lunch was the most important meal and polish people liked to have a warm meal. We were served with a typical Polish dish including potato dumpling, meat and salad. Then, at 4 pm., it was the time to say good bye to WWOOFing with a cheerful group picture.

The discussion evening started with a presentation of Dr. Malchar-Michalska lecturer at the University of Opole. Dr. Malchar-Michalska explained how the region of Opole suffers from Continue reading

DERREG Special Issues European Countryside

The EU FP7 funded project DERREG has come to an end, but various publications are foreseen. The first set of 11 articles are published in two Special Issues of the European Countryside, an open access Journal, edited by Michael Woods and John McDonagh:

Special Issue 1: Volume 3, Number 3 / 2011

Special Issue 2: Volume 4, Number 1 / 2012

 The 11 articles are listed below including a hyperlink to the full text in pdf. Continue reading

Guest lecture on Migration

Open Guest Lecture Professor David Brown, Professor of Development Sociology (Cornell University, USA) on Friday March 3oth

 Title: “Challenges in researching migration”
Time: 13.30-15.00
Place: Leeuwenborch building, room: C78

David L. Brown is professor and chair of Development Sociology, co-director of the Community & Regional Development Institute, and associate director of the Population Research and Training Program at Cornell University in Ithaca. He was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Professional Excellence in 2009, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Rousse in Bulgaria. He is past president of the Rural Sociological Society. He has written and edited eight books on rural population and society. His most recent books include: Rural Communities in the 21st Century: Resilience and Transformation (2011), Rural Retirement Migration (2008) (with Nina Glasgow), Population Change and Rural Society (2006), and Challenges for Rural America in the 21st Century (2003).

Lecture: The traditional definition of migration is at odds with contemporary migration processes. Migration is traditionally seen as a disrupt of everyday social relationships. Brown however argues that contemporary migration is socially embedded (embedded in a social structure) and that social relations are often continued. Professor Brown’s research focuses on migration and population redistribution in the US and Europe with a particular focus on how migration affects and is affected by local community organization. His work also focuses on the production and reproduction of social and economic inequalities between regions and rural v. urban areas. In his guest lecture he talks about the conceptual and methodological challenges in researching migration.

DERREG-website is online

The website of the EU-funded research project DERREG (see blog of January 22) is now online: www.derreg.eu. Basic information about the project is now available and further information will be published as the project proceeds.