Rural Development Sociology - Research Agenda 2005-2009

The Anthropology of Development: Knowledge, Institutions and Socio-technical Change

Abstract

The Chair Group of the Sociology of Rural Development of the Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, has a longstanding expertise in policy relevant research on international patterns of rural development. In comparison with anthropology and sociology at other Dutch universities, development sociology at Wageningen is unique in its concentration on the study of rural transformations, and for its close co-operation with other social and agricultural science disciplines. In this way, Wageningen development sociologists/anthropologists are distinctive for their combined interest in theoretical and practical issues and for their commitment to working within a multidisciplinary framework.

Over the past two decades the work of the Group has made an impact on development thinking not only in the disciplinary fields of the sociology and anthropology of development, but also in various applied fields of development. It has moved beyond existing orthodoxies (e.g. based on modernist, structuralist or postmodernist assumptions) and their associated reifications of social life to explore new modes of conceptualising and analysing the complexities and dynamics of rural change. Such attempts to unravel transformation processes are guided by an interest in empirical research that focuses upon the social practices of different actors in relation to a multiplicity of institutions and resources which are embedded in heterogeneous interests, values, and meanings. In this vein, the Group has made considerable headway in theorising and exploring the idea of ‘development’ as an ongoing socially-constructed and negotiated process. A common thread running through this work is the use of actor-oriented theory and methodologies.

At one extreme, the changing context of development signifies the transformation of scientific knowledge with regard to production technologies and to environmental issues; while at the other, it signifies the process by which rural people mobilise themselves politically to improve their own livelihoods. Therefore, central to our research is an exploration of how social actors secure the quality of their assets, negotiate their life chances and opportunities and enhance their social actions and power to embody the possibilities that development offers them. The far-reaching consequences of this orientation are attested to by the numerous contributions that have come out from the internationally recognised, Wageningen School of critical development thinking.

Thematic Fields

The research of the Chair Group relates to the mission of Wageningen University: namely, ‘to develop and disseminate the scientific knowledge needed to sustainably supply society’s demands for sufficient, healthy food and a safe environment for humans, animals and plants’.  As part of this mission, our Research Agenda is organised around three core thematic fields:

 ·        Agro- Food Studies

·        The Environment-development Nexus

·        Policy Regimes, Frameworks of Participation and Organising Practices

Projects

These thematic fields are necessarily broad to encompass the range of individual research project undertaken in the Group.  Within each of these thematic fields, several cross-cutting research areas can be distinguished.  These include:

scientific knowledge, food security, and sustainable livelihoods

endogenous-exogenous knowledge, use, and management of natural resources for agriculture, fisheries, and forestry

globalization processes and agricultural production, consumption and trade

marine and coastal zone management

commoditization of genetic resources

value contestation and politics

the social construction and deconstruction of policy regimes

people’s organising practices and the construction of locality

the use and abuse of participatory technologies and discourses in planned development interventions

Click here for a detailed description of our research agenda

Ph.D. research projects

Past and present research of the group has been quite successful when PhD. training is considered. Over the last 12 years more then 40 PhD thesis have been realised and successfully defended. Some thirty in various stages of completion. Click here to see the list of Ph.D. projects.

Graduate Research School

The research endeavors of  the Rural Development Sociology group falls under the responsibilities of CERES. CERES  focuses on resource dynamics for human development and functions as a co-ordination platform between six universities in the Netherlands. 

CERES'  research programme is organised in eight working programmes. CERES-Wageningen  is a key player in terms of central management and coordination of two of these:

The Management of Natural and Human Resources

Rural Transformations: Resources, Adaptations and Linkages.

Thematical spear points for the Wageningen-based CERES researchers are renegotiating natural resource management and 'violent conflict and social reconstruction'.