Rural development policies are being conducted in many countries around the world. The handicaps inherent in the conventional policies implemented in the rural areas are having an adverse effect on the beneficiaries of these efforts particularly in the recent years. Since the beginning of the 21st century, agriculture, peasantry, food, poverty, and migration have been regarded as significant issues by both the social sciences and the political actors. Examined from the developmentalist perspective from of the 20th century, new approaches are needed to the debates around the following issues: whether the peasantry in its present status could persist or not, the monopolization of agricultural food chains on an international scale, the challenges of food quality and famine, poverty with its changing character, and ongoing migratory movements.
The regression of rural production and living, and diminishing rural population are consequences of the developmentalist paradigm visible in every aspect of life as much as they are the outcomes of policies implemented by policy makers and governments. Along with rural poverty, the regression of rural living leads to an increasingly growing urban poverty with the rural population flocking into the cities. The living conditions imposed on these people are extremely hard and unsustainable. These circumstances call for alternative approaches to finding solutions to the village, peasantry and the city; to the environment and agriculture; and to the phenomena of migration and poverty.
One of the purposes of the conference to be held between 16-17 November 2012, based on the book “Alternative and New Approaches to Rural Development” published by the Development Center Association in Turkish and Kurdish in 2011 which incorporates the abovementioned subjects, is to bring up on the agenda, without omitting relevant human experiences, some examples as to what these alternative approaches could be. We simultaneously wish to delve into these topics from various angles and focus on alternative development perspectives and solutions.
In this connection, we aim to contribute to prospective efforts and policies in the field of rural development in Turkey by closely examining the issues of food, rural life styles, demographic changes and rural development policies without disregarding the gender perspective. During the two-day conference, the main topics will be “Food Sovereignty”, “Peasantry” and “Rural Development and Gender”. The first day will consist of panels addressing these topics followed by workshops on the second day of the conference.
As the organizers and participants of the conference, we hope to develop our “collaborations” and “common grounds” and to come up with examples of alternative approaches with contributions from scientists and civil society organizations from various countries.
Regards
For further reading:
The peasant mode of production revisited, Jan Douwe Van Der Ploeg
Beyond The rural-urban devide: new space for development, Joost Jongarden
Agriculture, food and design: new food networks for a distributed economy, Ezio Manzini