Event series Critical Agrarian Studies
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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 from December to February.
*An explanation of what Critical Agrarian Studies (CAS) actually is can be found below. CAS are unfortunately quite unknown in German-speaking countries - the series aims to help change this.
The lectures and discussions will always be on Thursdays at 7pm, exact details can also be found below. The events will usually last 60-90 minutes, and questions can be asked after the speakers' inputs.
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
More records:
Land Grabbing in East Germany: Causes, Effects & Resistance - Jan Brunner
La Via Campesina and the peasant way for systemic change - 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 causes?
Critical perspectives and analyses of the problems are needed to sharpen our view of agricultural policy, agriculture and rural areas. In order to find solutions, actors and movements that are committed to a good life for all must be made visible and listened to.
What are the dangers of "green" capitalism based on renewable raw materials? What are the dead ends of 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 in the current debates on the future of the agricultural sector?
The series deals with these and many other questions and aims to provide food for thought to make teaching at various locations more critical.
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 who are committed to agroecology, food sovereignty, feminism and human rights.
The issues addressed are correspondingly diverse and the topics are often viewed from a local and global perspective - historical developments and the economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of change play an important role.
Historically, CAS are linked to (neo-)Marxist theories and "peasant studies" and take up debates on the "agrarian question". Nowadays, the field is not exclusively characterized by (neo-)Marxist perspectives, but increasingly also by heterodox views on rural societies.
The current attention on CAS is one of countless examples of critical voices that are becoming louder and louder in various fields of knowledge. One thing is certain: the hegemonic paradigms and analyses of the policy field are increasingly being called into question. They need to be overcome and emancipatory alternatives strengthened. This is one of the aims of Critical Agrarian Studies.
Contact person for questions
Max Dilger (Organizer)
- c-a-s[at]riseup[dot]net