TY - JOUR
T1 - Agriculture, livelihoods, and globalization
T2 - The analysis of new trajectories (and avoidance of just-so stories) of human-environment change and conservation
AU - Zimmerer, Karl S.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author wishes to thank Valerie Imbruce for the invitation to contribute to this issue and to acknowledge the editorial inputs and expertise of Laura B. DeLind, the Editor of AHV. My research on the themes covered in this article was supported through fellowships of the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation (2002–2003) and the Agrarian Studies Program of Yale University (2004– 2005).
PY - 2007/3
Y1 - 2007/3
N2 - Globalization offers a mix of new trajectories for agriculture, livelihoods, resource use, and environmental conservation. The papers in this issue share elements that advance our understanding of these new trajectories. The shared elements suggest an approach that places stress on: (i) the common ground of theoretical concepts (local-global interactions), methodologies (case study design), and analytical frameworks (spatio-temporal emphasis); (ii) farm-level economic diversification and the dynamics of agricultural intensification-disintensification; (iii) the pervasive role of agricultural as well as environmental institutions, organizations, and governance issues; (iv) the agency of nature' that blends the roles of non-human organisms and the cultural and social practices of people both at the local scale and beyond; (v) the framing of sustainability initiatives and outcomes through the perspective of historical change; (vi) spatial environmental dynamics of the 'new geographics of environmental conservation' that impact agriculture, food production, and resource management; and (vii) successful and promising policies, projects, and developments mapping out possible spaces of hope for agricultural sustainability, aquitable development, and food security. The adoption and application of these elements is successful also in avoiding the tendency toward just-so accounts or overly simplified stories of agrarian and environment successes amid the often grim realities of globalization and its impacts.
AB - Globalization offers a mix of new trajectories for agriculture, livelihoods, resource use, and environmental conservation. The papers in this issue share elements that advance our understanding of these new trajectories. The shared elements suggest an approach that places stress on: (i) the common ground of theoretical concepts (local-global interactions), methodologies (case study design), and analytical frameworks (spatio-temporal emphasis); (ii) farm-level economic diversification and the dynamics of agricultural intensification-disintensification; (iii) the pervasive role of agricultural as well as environmental institutions, organizations, and governance issues; (iv) the agency of nature' that blends the roles of non-human organisms and the cultural and social practices of people both at the local scale and beyond; (v) the framing of sustainability initiatives and outcomes through the perspective of historical change; (vi) spatial environmental dynamics of the 'new geographics of environmental conservation' that impact agriculture, food production, and resource management; and (vii) successful and promising policies, projects, and developments mapping out possible spaces of hope for agricultural sustainability, aquitable development, and food security. The adoption and application of these elements is successful also in avoiding the tendency toward just-so accounts or overly simplified stories of agrarian and environment successes amid the often grim realities of globalization and its impacts.
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U2 - 10.1007/s10460-006-9028-y
DO - 10.1007/s10460-006-9028-y
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33847417504
SN - 0889-048X
VL - 24
SP - 9
EP - 16
JO - Agriculture and Human Values
JF - Agriculture and Human Values
IS - 1
ER -