Critical Agrarian Studies Event Series
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From December to February, the (online) lecture series.
"Introduction to Critical Agrarian Studies* - critical perspectives on agriculture and rural areas" will take place.
*An explanation of what Critical Agrarian Studies (CAS) are in general can be found below. CAS are unfortunately quite unknown in the German-speaking world - the series wants to contribute to change that.
The lectures and discussions will always be on Thursdays at 19h, exact details can also be found below. The events will usually last 60-90min, after the speakers' inputs questions can be asked.
No registration is necessary.
Upcoming events
Past events
Records:
Not all events are recorded.
If they are recorded, the videos can be found here:
Corporate power in the digital agri-food system - Louisa Prause
Dependent employees in agriculture - Benjamin Luig
Unequal rural areas: Critical perspectives on rural development in Hesse - Andreas Kallert
Other records:
Land Grabbing in EastGermanland: Ursachen, Auswekungen & Withestand - Jan Brunner
La Via Campesina and the bäuerliche way for the Systemwandel - Paula Gioia
Announcement text
Land conflicts, climate crisis, structural change in rural areas, shift to the right. Our society is facing multiple crises and major challenges. What does it take to better understand and classify complex phenomena and interrelationships - to find solutions that address the root causes?
In order to sharpen our view of agricultural policy, agriculture and rural areas, we need critical perspectives and analyses of the problematic situations. In order to find solutions, actors and movements working for a good life for all must be made visible and listened to.
What are the dangers of a "green" capitalism based on renewable resources? What are the dead ends of a digitalization driven by corporations? What does neoliberalism have to do with the shift to the right? What can we learn from peasant movements and struggles? What perspectives are missing from current debates about the future of the agricultural sector?
The series addresses these and many other questions and aims to provide food for thought to make teaching more critical at different sites.
What are Critical Agrarian Studies?
One answer could be:
Critical Agrarian Studies (CAS) is an interdisciplinary field of research that critically examines the transformation of rural areas in the context of land use, agrarian environmental transformations and the future of peasant agriculture. The international network consists of critical academics from the fields of agricultural sociology, political science, economics, history and geography, as well as practitioners and actors from social movements working for agroecology, food sovereignty, feminism and human rights.
The issues addressed are correspondingly diverse, often from a local and global perspective - historical developments as well as the economic, social, political, and cultural dimensions of change play an important role.
Historically, the CAS are linked to (neo-)Marxist theories and "Peasant Studies" and take up debates about the "agrarian question". Today, the field is not exclusively shaped by (neo-)Marxist perspectives, but increasingly also by heterodox views of rural societies.
The current attention to CAS joins countless examples of critical, increasingly vocal voices in a variety of fields of knowledge. For one thing is certain: the hegemonic paradigms and analyses of the policy field are increasingly being challenged. It is necessary to overcome them and to strengthen emancipatory alternatives. This is a claim of Critical Agrarian Studies.
Contact person for questions
Max Dilger (Organizer)
- c-a-s[at]riseup[dot]net