Agrarian Spaces Research Articles

Dating and Characterising the Transformation of a Monastic Landscape. A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Agrarian Spaces of Samos Abbey (NW Spain)

ABSTRACT This paper explores the potential of a multidisciplinary approach to understand landscape evolution over the last 1200 years around an important monastic centre, Samos Abbey, in northwest Iberia. Our objective is to test whether or not landscape transformations here – in particular terracing related to agriculture – can be linked to the agency of the monks. Our landscape study combined analysis of written sources with archaeological survey and test-pitting, including OSL profiling and dating of seven earthworks, with pollen and geochemical analysis of three of them. It has been possible to detect at least four main phases of landscape transformation in the immediate surroundings of Samos Abbey. The mid-seventeenth century saw the most recent and visible transformations, partly overprinting earlier landscapes changes from the Iron Age, eighth–ninth and thirteenth centuries AD. The data suggest that landscape transformation had already begun in this area centuries before the abbey was created, but the presence of this power centre from the early Middle Ages resulted in intensive use of the territory over the last twelve centuries.

Contribuções metodológicas ao estudo de cinturões verdes de oasis em Mendoza, Argentina

The study and understanding of the underlying dynamics of agrarian spaces is fundamental for any policy that seeks to optimize territory planning. This research analizes the dynamics of periurban agrarian spaces in irrigation oasis contexts and attempts to provide a theorical-methodological framework to study the rural-urban interface from sociological perspective. The case analyzed – the agrarian expantion in a rural distrit of Mendoza’s green belt- is an instrumental case for this work’s purpose. As contributions of this work, it is the perspective on the situated agrifood systems, the triad structure-agency-territory and the territorial approach of rural development. The results of the investigation help to claim the active character of the rural in the current supremacy of the cities growth.

Claiming the right to the city beyond the city: the role of agrarian social movements

ABSTRACT The Right to the City concept extends beyond cities to include broader urban-rural dialectical processes. This paper proposes that by analyzing claims to transform spaces as struggles to reshape underlying processes, it is possible to identify shared struggles between movements seeking to transform urban and agrarian spaces. The paper examines the role of agrarian social movements, such as La Via Campesina, in reconfiguring urbanization through their claim for food sovereignty. It builds on critical urban and agrarian studies to offer a process-based understanding of the commonalities between seemingly disconnected claims to reshape urban and agrarian spaces.

The rhythms of “acostumbrarse”: Noticing quiet hydro-politics in Colombia’s Caribbean coast

In Colombia’s Caribbean region, where Black Diaspora agrarian spaces have been overtaken by oil palm plantations, access to safe drinking water has become increasingly difficult. Leticia is a water spring located in this historical afro descendant territory. Leticia’s near exhaustion in 2015 as a consequence of oil palm encroachment caused little public outrage even though nearby communities have depended on its waters for decades. Some residents explained their response to Leticia’s fate as acostumbrarse or “getting used to” these forms of harm. While such responses are often discounted as expressions of “giving up,” we argue that acostumbrarse to Leticia’s precarity expresses self-affirmation that overflows liberal notions of resistance. In conversation with Black and Caribbean Studies intellect and poetics, we first problematize how dominant ways of writing about black harm not only reproduce anti-black violence but also neglect the desires of quiet sovereignty in the experience of harm. Second, we re-story Leticia’s sociality as immanent and acostumbrarse as a collective politics of perseverance that ebbs and flows in this hydro-sociality. Our goal is to open space for noticing and storying quiet responses such as acostumbrarse as an opaque politics of perseverance, forming and reforming through recurring and punctuated experiences of both life and death, harm and collective self-affirmation.

From silk to concrete: exploring the socio-spatial aspects of the Agrarian question(s) in Mount Lebanon

ABSTRACT Research on the Southwest Asia North Africa region often focuses on turbulent upheaval and landscape change in urban areas, and less on the rural and agrarian spaces left behind. In this paper, we look at the varying trajectory of landscape change in two neighboring villages in Mount Lebanon with similar geophysical characteristics but very different ecologies and economies. We show how these paths were mediated by capital flows and the changing modes of production and livelihoods. Looking through the lens of the Agrarian Question, we argue for its continued importance in understanding rural landscapes and their place in capitalist development.

Rural landscapes and agrarian spaces under soybean expansion dynamics: a case study of the Santar\xe9m region, Brazilian Amazonia

Following the boom of soybean production from 2000 to 2006 in the Santarém region of the Brazilian Amazon, the mechanized agricultural area remained stable, unlike other regions. Deforestation was controlled, but this initial expansion led to the restructuring of the agrarian space in the region. Given this scenario, we aimed to understand the mechanized agricultural expansion effects in the region by comparing the periods 1999–2007 and 2007–2015. Our hypothesis was that it impacted heterogeneous actors and land tenure categories. We combined multi-temporal land change maps derived from remote sensing to land tenure information to evaluate how land change transitions differed over time, both in public (traditional and sustainable use official settlements) and private areas. In private areas, we observed a 12% reduction in forest cover in 1999–2007 and a 2.5% reduction in 2007–2015. In sustainable use settlements, forest loss was only 3% and 2% in each period, respectively. Mechanized agriculture occupied areas of family farming (42%), secondary vegetation (20%), pasture (20%), and forest areas (18%). Family farming lost most of the area to other uses. Within settlements, the area of family farming increased by 50% at the expense of the forest area. We conclude that the rise and fall of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon hide multiple social and territorial processes. Understanding such dynamics is critical for establishing measures toward a sustainable future.

Gender Differences in Knowledge, Use, and Collection of Wild Edible Plants in Three Spanish Areas

Many ethnobotanical studies have shown differences in the knowledge and practices held by men and women. Using ethnographic fieldwork, a survey, and secondary data from three different areas in Spain, this study shows a geographical pattern in women’s and men’s relations with wild edible plants. In the case studies from Southern Spain, Doñana, and Sierra Morena Extremeña, women gather less wild edible plants than men, while in the Central Spain case study, Sierra Norte de Madrid, the difference is less marked. We explain this difference through the construction and distribution of agrarian spaces, particularly with regards to land tenure type and urban centers size. In the southern cases, large agrarian properties are more prevalent than in Sierra Norte de Madrid, where common lands and small and medium properties predominate. Additionally, in Doñana, big urban agro-towns dominate, whereas in Sierra Norte de Madrid and Sierra Morena Extremeña little towns are the norm. Overall, our study suggests that gendered differences in the use of natural resources are better understood if contextualized in a large socioecological context.

De la fiebre de la soja a la degradación de los suelos. Economía, ecología y política en la agricultura del centro-oeste del Chaco Seco, Argentina (1960-1990)

This article analyzes the processes of agrarian change associated to the first expansion of the extensive dryland agriculture frontier in middle-western Dry Chaco (northwestern Argentina) during the 1960-1990 period. The singularity of the case in relation to other agrarian spaces of the region is that soybean cultivation was introduced in the 1960s in the farming colonies of that area, constituting one of the first spaces in Argentina where soybean was produced commercially. This experience constituted the precedent in relation to which public organizations and private companies produced knowledge and technology to achieve economically positive results on what until then was a marginal space, based on a crop with no national background in semi-arid spaces. In the 1970s, investors from other sectors of the economy acquired land and imprinted a business model for agriculture in the study area. However, during the 1980s soil degradation became a general problem that slowed the expansion of the previous decade.

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel. By Terry Beers

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel. By Terry Beers

Conquista feudal y transformaciones agrarias: colonización agrícola y ganadería en el prado de Tortosa, siglos XII-XIII

This paper examines the earliest colonisation of the Tortosa plain, following the Christian conquest of 1148. The research follows a historiographicline that highlights the impact of the conquest of al-Andalus by Christian kingdoms from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It focuses especially on the modifications that the conquerors made to the Andalusian agrarian landscape, aimed chiefly at increasing production and feudal rents. The research methodology involved examining the documentation generated by the conquest, then comparing and contrasting it to archaeological sur vey work, field work and study of available maps. Agrarian spaces are identified and landscape features descr ibed, including networks of drainage canals, roads, a flour mill, caves, estates (mansi) and large meadows dotted with ponds and lagoons. The conquerors expanded the drainage infrastr ucture and divided the land into homogenous, but not necessarily contiguous, field systems with vineyards, green gardens, and plots for dryland agriculture. However, large areas remained uncultivated for grazing.

Experiências sociais rurais e as implicações dos silenciamentos:diálogos entre História e Sociologia

Este artigo recupera, nos estudos rurais no campo da historiografia e sociologia produzidos a partir da segunda metade do século XX, questões associadas a importância de compreendermos os espaços agrários do ponto de vistas das experiências sociais camponesas que coexistem com outros modos de produzir, mantendo relações de interdependência, fundamentais a reprodução social. Surge de uma necessidade de resposta aos que apostam no silenciamento das experiências sociais desenvolvidas pelas populações do campo como estratégia de dominação e apropriação das terras historicamente ocupadas por estas comunidades. Neste aspecto, procuramos apresentar um conjunto de trabalhos que nos permite pensar acerca das transformações do rural, da diversidade das formas de existência no e do campo e sobre o conhecimento produzido das diversas situações. A proposta é superar a crença no caráter único e inexorável de apenas uma via de desenvolvimento, o que privilegiaria os grandes estabelecimentos agroindustriais, hoje batizados de agronegócio, para desde o início apontar que devemos estar atentos à pluralidade do rural. Ao esquadrinharmos a produção acadêmica com as transformações políticas e sociais no Brasil e como agentes sociais anteriormente silenciados foram emergindo, observamos não mais um mundo rural dicotômico, dividido entre dominantes e dominadores, mas gradualmente surgem descrições e análises de um campesinato marginal as áreas de grandes plantações, nas margens dos rios e ocupando os espaços de florestas, como sitiantes, colonos, posseiros, arrendatários, agregados, moradores, extratores, ribeirinhos, entre outros. O mérito desta reflexão é apresentar o processo de construção nos estudos da sociologia e da história de uma representação do espaço rural que permitiu que estes grupos fossem visibilizados na sua experiência de acesso e uso da terra.

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel by Terry Beers

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel by Terry Beers

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel by Terry Beers

The End of Eden: Agrarian Spaces and the Rise of the California Social Novel by Terry Beers

Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farms and Black Agrarian Geographies

AbstractThis paper examines Fannie Lou Hamer's Freedom Farms, a 1969 farming cooperative in Sunflower County, Mississippi. Specifically, this paper interrogates how Hamer's identity as a Black southern woman influences her formulation and daily activities at Freedom Farms. Theoretically, this paper situates Hamer as an expert agrarian labourer and knowledge producer who exists within a history of Black women who have always been utilised for their agrarian knowledge, but given little credit. Hamer's knowledge is a part of her body. This paper argues that Freedom Farms is a Black radical geography operating at three scales: the body, the farm and the southern agrarian landscape. This paper utilises Hamer's speeches, interviews and other archival documents to understand Hamer's efforts. Hamer's agrarian landscape is wrought with pain, but also the insistence in the economic opportunity that exists for Black people in agrarian spaces.

Narco‐frontiers: A spatial framework for drug‐fuelled accumulation

AbstractBased on historical and ethnographic research conducted in a region of northwest Colombia and drawing on the stories of novelist Gabriel García Márquez, this article develops the analytical concept of “narco‐frontiers” to help disentangle the confusing political economy of agrarian spaces affected by the violence of the drug war. As socially produced spaces, narco‐frontiers emerge through the convergence of four interlocking processes: uneven development, internal colonialism, political violence, and narco‐fuelled dispossession. Although often depicted as “ungovernable” or “stateless” spaces, narco‐frontiers are wracked by extra‐legal regimes of rule in which the state is simply one actor among others. With the drug trade inducing violent agrarian change all over the world—from Colombia to Afghanistan, Burma to Central America—this article offers a spatial‐historical framework for understanding these dramatic transformations.

Epidemiological characterization and risk factors associated with Leptospira infection in dogs from rural settlements in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil

Rural settlements are defined as family-run agrarian spaces. Their purpose, based on public policies, is to strengthen family agriculture. They are peculiar environments that can predispose to the risk of diseases, especially zoonotic diseases, due to close natural contact with animals that can be sources of infection. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of anti-Leptospira antibodies in dogs from rural settlements in the state of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil, and to identify the risk factors associated with infection. A total of 306 dogs were sampled and Leptospira screening was performed using the microscopic agglutination test. In all, 27 of 306 (8.82%; 95% CI = 6.13-12.5%) dogs were seropositive for Leptospira spp. The most frequent serotype was Pomona. Street access (odds ratio = 3.53, p = 0.012) was indicated as a risk factor for infection. The results indicate that leptospirosis is present in dogs from rural settlements in the state of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil. This reinforces the need to limit contact between dogs and wild reservoirs and perform serological monitoring of swine. It also reinforces the need for implementation of control measures such as improvements in hygienic-sanitary conditions in the settlements, including the construction of pigsties away from homes, and the introduction of vaccination to reduce the occurrence of this disease, which will prevent transmission to humans and animals.

Epidemiological characterization and risk factors associated with Leptospira infection in dogs from rural settlements in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil

Rural settlements are defined as family-run agrarian spaces. Their purpose, based on public policies, is to strengthen family agriculture. They are peculiar environments that can predispose to the risk of diseases, especially zoonotic diseases, due to close natural contact with animals that can be sources of infection. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of anti-Leptospira antibodies in dogs from rural settlements in the state of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil, and to identify the risk factors associated with infection. A total of 306 dogs were sampled and Leptospira screening was performed using the microscopic agglutination test. In all, 27 of 306 (8.82%; 95% CI = 6.13-12.5%) dogs were seropositive for Leptospira spp. The most frequent serotype was Pomona. Street access (odds ratio = 3.53, p = 0.012) was indicated as a risk factor for infection. The results indicate that leptospirosis is present in dogs from rural settlements in the state of Paraíba, Northeast Brazil. This reinforces the need to limit contact between dogs and wild reservoirs and perform serological monitoring of swine. It also reinforces the need for implementation of control measures such as improvements in hygienic-sanitary conditions in the settlements, including the construction of pigsties away from homes, and the introduction of vaccination to reduce the occurrence of this disease, which will prevent transmission to humans and animals.

Land titling in Uganda crowds out local farmers

A boom in land titling has hit the outskirts of Kampala in Uganda, with the development of housing projects and new types of investments in the farm sector. Most of the new title-holders are not the tenants who used to be at the basis of the local agricultural system despite legislation officially intended to protect them. Tenant families are progressively losing their rights and trapped with insufficient land for farming. Most are today involved in both farm and non-farm activities, linking up agrarian and urban spaces, side to side with absentee urban investors. The current dynamics of the land market around Kampala contributes to deep changes in both agricultural production and social composition of the population, leading to new forms of marginalisation and rising inequalities.

A Buzz in the Meadow A Buzz in the Meadow The Natural History of a French Farm Dave Goulson Picador, 2015. 281 pp.

![Figure][1] As urban centers grow around the world, more people are living farther from natural and agrarian spaces than ever before. Dave Goulson's A Buzz in the Meadow provides a glimpse into these spaces that often go unnoticed, exploring the natural histories of the flora and fauna on a farm in the French countryside. Along the way, the book takes many unexpected turns to much broader (and sometimes very personal) tales of scientific discovery. Goulson, a biologist by training, begins the book with a tour of Chez Nauche, the abandoned farm he purchased in the Charente region of southwestern France. He gives engaging accounts of the natural histories of the newts, dragonflies, mantises, and other animals he encounters, which are meant to inspire readers to explore their own yards. Goulson hopes that in doing so, they will begin to value not only the “large charismatic, furry or feathery creatures, often living on the other side of the world, glimpsed only in television documentaries” but also smaller, familiar organisms that affect our environment in profound ways. He makes special examples of the insect species living on the farm, using meadow brown butterflies to explain the beginnings of the field of genetics and flies to highlight the mismanagement of landfills. In the second part of the book, Goulson weaves tales of complex interactions between plants, animals, and fungi to illustrate the interconnectedness of life. He closes with an examination of the many factors that can lead to the decline and eventual extinction of species, focusing particularly on bumblebees, which he has studied throughout his scientific career. His conclusions are grim: We have, he claims, been culpable in the mass extinction of life on Earth since the beginning of our evolution. But Goulson's goal—“to encourage everyone to cherish what we have, and to illustrate what wonders we stand to lose if we do not change our ways”—is clear and resonates throughout the book. ![Figure][1] Biologist Dave Goulson urges us to cherish and protect life in all its forms. PHOTO: ANVAY NAKADE/FLICKR Many of the life histories, species interactions, and ecological concepts outlined in this book can be found elsewhere in published literature, but what stands out are the deeply personal insights Goulson provides into the life of a scientist. When discussing the many species he has studied over his career, he chronicles the trials, small victories, and failures of a young biologist. He also reveals the triumphs and frustrations that can come from attempting to communicate important scientific research to nonplussed policymakers and members of the public. His experiences will resonate with many scientists and will provide the general reader with an interesting and accessible glimpse into the life of a naturalist. [1]: pending:yes