Contemporary Rural Communities Research Articles

The Relationship between Spatial Behavior and External Spatial Elements in Ancient Villages Based on GPS-GIS: A Case Study of Huangshan Hinterland, China

Under rural revitalization and rapid construction in China, the mismatch between contemporary rural communities and villagers’ space behavior habits has attracted widespread attention. This study proposes and practices a design methodology for a newly built rural community based on spatial elements and their relationship with the behavior of local ancient villages. We explore the relationship between the two by applying drone-tech aerial photos, GPS, and ArcGIS. The results indicate that: (1) Ancient villages have abundant external spatial elements different from urban communities. Each space element of the ancient village has a specific function corresponding to the villagers’ daily life needs. (2) Village space elements are outcomes of the sociocultural process, and their topological structure is not random but follows their use based on hours of the day. (3) About 94.6% of space use behavior in the case of ancient village residents is associated with five space elements. (4) Updating the external spatial elements of ancient villages under the demands of contemporary life makes the application of spatial elements not only continue the villagers’ natural life process, but also satisfy the demands of the contemporary way of life on the external space. This study proposes the characteristics of the relationship between ancient village spatial behavior and external spatial elements through scientific analysis methods, which can provide references for contemporary rural planning and help to solve the mismatch problem between contemporary rural communities and villagers’ behavior habits.

Liberal LGBTphobia in rural spaces: Israeli lesbian and bisexual women's relationality

Lesbian and bisexual women living in rural space portray it as a multifaceted space, reflecting closeness to nature, good educational systems, and community life. But this idealized space, we argue, is also home to a specific form of LGBTphobia, which we conceptualize as Liberal LGBTphobia. While LGBTphobia is understood as originating in hatred or violence, liberal LGBTphobia is characterized by conservatism and ignorance towards LGBT people. However, influenced by a public-private divide, liberal LGBTphobia manifests in a dual discourse. On the one hand, it is anchored in the desirability of rural life for lesbian and bisexual women. This appeal makes it difficult to identify LGBTphobia as such in many instances, given that it manifests in subtle and complex ways. On the other hand, rural space is distinguished from its surrounding space; understood as a better place to live in and with fewer manifestations of LGBTphobia. Therefore, we conceptualize liberal LGBTphobia as consisting of a major mechanism that reproduces the “here” vs. “there” discourse within rural space, and from this identify specific practices that may not seem as LGBTphobia at first glance, such as shunning, prying, tokenism, gossip, and the use of politically correct language and social hints to convey a message of othering. These practices occur in rural space, where people live in comparatively small communities. We argue that liberal LGBTphobic practices are routine in contemporary rural Israeli space and communities.

Economic inequalities in contemporary rural China: How does political capital matter?

To assess how the transition from state socialism to a market economy has impacted the social stratification order in China, some prior studies have debated whether the economic privileges of the political redistributors have declined relative to the emerging market elites, while others have examined the coevolution between the two in urban institutional contexts. This study provides new insights into how political capital influences economic inequalities in contemporary rural China by revisiting informal social institutions. Drawing upon a unique nationally representative household survey and using surname sharing with the village cadres to infer shared lineage membership, we find that lineage-based political ties help rural Chinese households to materialize income as well as asset advantages over fellow villagers bereft of such ties. Furthermore, the economic privileges of political connections are larger in villages with lineage groups than those without, and larger for villages of more frequent kin interactions than those of less frequent kin interactions. Our results extend prior findings on the coevolution between political and market elites by going beyond formal institutions and examining grassroots-level evidence in contemporary rural communities.

Complicating Social Order in the Rural Areas of Akwa Ibom State Nigeria

In a typical traditional society in Nigeria laws, rules, norms, and taboos were used by community elders to enforce social order and curtail practices, behaviours, values and beliefs that were counter to the stability of the social structure. However, the contemporary rural communities have witnessed a shift within the social structures and institutions, in behaviours, cultural aspects which affect social relations, social interaction and the maintenance of the status quo by the traditional rulers. This qualitative study examined the roles of traditional rulers in complicating social order in Ikot Annang and Ikot Abasi communities in Akwa Ibom State, South-South Nigeria. In-depth interviews and participant observation were used to collect data on the subject under study. Ethnomethodology by Garfinkel was adopted as theoretical guide for the study. Findings of the study show that betrayal of community interest, mismanagement of community generated revenue, neglect of traditions, abuses of traditional power by some community elders, and youth groups are contributing to upheaval in some rural communities in Akwa Ibom State. Researchers concluded that the decisions by some of the rural community elders and youth groups to adopt western customs over their traditional customs have distorted the state of stability and consensus that existed in the traditional rural areas, thereby bringing about a shift that disrupts social order. Among other, the researchers recommended the need for culture check and rite of passage for youth groups in line with customs and traditions.

THE BULGARIAN VILLAGE: SUSTAINABILITY IN TRANSFORMATION MODE

The paper attempts to raise certain questions, the answers to which are probably the emanation of the Bulgarian village. What is the reason for its sustainability, manifested and outlined particularly in the transformation periods? In the periods of crisis the village is a social buffer of the society. The sustainability of the village is outlined in the report through a series of indicators. The roots of this process can be tracked in the three-unit chain: man – nature – society. The contemporary rural community upgrades the etymological definition, identifying the village as a settlement whose population is engaged in agriculture. In support of the village sustainability thesis, the report undertakes to reveal the significance of the changes in CAP and its greening. The man and his habitat are among the priorities of the 21st century.

Food beliefs and practices among the Kalenjin pregnant women in rural Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

BackgroundUnderstanding food beliefs and practices is critical to the development of dietary recommendations, nutritional programmes, and educational messages. This study aimed to understand the pregnancy food beliefs and practices and the underlying reasons for these among the contemporary rural Kalenjin communities of Uasin Gishu County, Kenya.MethodsThrough semi-structured interviews, data was collected from 154 pregnant and post-natal Kalenjin women about restricted and recommended foods, and why they are restricted or recommended during pregnancy. Respondents were purposively selected (based on diversity) from those attending Maternal and Child Health (MCH) care in 23 rural public health facilities. Key informant interviews (n = 9) with traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) who were also herbalists, community health workers, and nursing officers in charge of MCH were also conducted. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS software. Data from respondents who gave consent to be tape recorded (n = 42) was transcribed and qualitatively analysed using MAXQDA software.ResultsThe restriction of animal organs specifically the tongue, heart, udder and male reproductive organs, meat and eggs, and the recommendation of traditional green vegetables and milk was reported by more than 60% of the respondents. Recommendation of fruits, traditional herbs, ugali (a dish made of maize flour, millet flour, or Sorghum flour, sometimes mixed with cassava flour), porridge and liver, and restriction of avocadoes and oily food were reported by more than 20% of the respondents. The reasons for observing these dietary precautions were mainly fears of: big foetuses, less blood, lack of strength during birth, miscarriages or stillbirths, and maternal deaths as well as child’s colic and poor skin conditions after birth.ConclusionPregnancy food beliefs were widely known and practised mainly to protect the health of the mother and child, and ensuring successful pregnancy outcome. Given the deep-rooted nature of the beliefs, it is advisable that when nutritious foods are restricted, nutritional interventions should rather search for alternative sources of nutrition which are available and considered to be appropriate for pregnancy. On the other hand, nutritional advice that does not address these health concerns and assumptions that underlie successful pregnancy and delivery is unlikely to be effective.

When the social meets health in rural Australia: confronting the disconnect

ABSTRACTWhat happens in contemporary rural Australian communities when health consumers, health practitioners and health services intersect is the focus of this article. Using a hypothetical case of intimate partner violence, we analyse the power relations within what we call the ‘intersecting space’ to examine how each of these three central and ‘typical’ actors – rural consumers, health practitioners and rural services – is positioned. Drawing on Foucault’s concepts of power and discourse, we deconstruct dominant discourses of sameness and neutrality which (i) marginalise the perspectives and needs of rural health consumers, (ii) immobilise the ability of health practitioners to connect the social to health and (iii) restrict the flexibility of rural health services to address the social as part of health need. We argue that these discourses of sameness and neutrality have generated a longstanding disconnect that constrains social and health care systems, thwarting the production of client-centred care. We suggest that system-level change is required to provide client-centred, integrated and inclusive rural health care that recognises and addresses the social as a fundamental part of health.

Re-inhabiting place in contemporary rural communities: Moving toward a critical pedagogy of place

Heather Zimmerman and Jennifer Weible’s (Cult Stud Sci Educ, 2016) use of place-based pedagogy in high school science education honors their participants’ lived experiences and the rural communities from which they come. They raise an unresolved tension in their findings: Why did the youth in their study, who clearly learned a lot about the local watershed, not feel empowered or knowledgeable enough to propose collective, action-oriented strategies to address the poor quality of the water? We use this tension as a focus point of our response, drawing on one author’s (Huffling’s) biography and David Gruenewald’s (Educ Res 32:3–12, 2003. doi: 10.3102/0013189X032004003 ) critical pedagogy of place to re-imagine the curriculum that Zimmerman and Weible describe. We provide strategies that align with Gruenewald’s (2003) constructs of decolonization and reinhabitation that could promote youths’ collective empowerment.

Family and Community

In this article, the authors explore the consequences of an American 1930s classic anthropological study for a contemporary rural community in the west of Ireland. The contribution of family, kin, and community relations to sustaining a rural way of life was the primary focus of Arensberg and Kimball’s study of Irish farm families published as Family and Community in Ireland. Through the frame of a collaborative community research project with an artist, sociologist, and the descendents of the families written about, we present an account of a research project based on Kimball’s 1930s field diary that provided an opportunity for community members to tell their own story of family and community in the 21st century. Deploying a narrative inquiry approach, the power of local stories to interrupt dominant narratives of family and community is explored.

Gentrification and neo-rural populations in the Québec countryside: Representations of various actors

Rural gentrification, which is linked in particular to the migration and permanent settlement in the countryside of middle-class or affluent urbanites, is increasingly affecting contemporary rural communities. Despite the significance of this trend, the complex and many-sided phenomenon of rural gentrification has hardly been explored in scholarly research in Québec (Canada), in contrast to the abundant research that exists on this topic in the United Kingdom. Accordingly, the present article will explore different representations by and of the various actors involved vis-à-vis the emergence and polymorphous effects of the gentrification of two regional county municipalities (RCMs) in the province of Québec: Brome-Missisquoi and Arthabaska. Based on the results of qualitative interviews with the four types of actors (newcomers, long-time residents, directors of local and regional community organizations, and municipal officials), it shows the complexity of rural gentrification at various levels: 1) socio-demographically; 2) in terms of housing and economic impacts; 3) on the community and cultural levels; 4) on the physical, environmental and political levels. The findings demonstrate, among other things, the need to go further than simply portraying gentrifiers and, to this end, we have augmented our analysis with representations provided by other actors affected by rural gentrification. The article also stresses the importance of examining the overall effects of the phenomenon, both negative and positive, with a view to improving our understanding of it.

Exploring social capital in rural settlements of an islander region in Greece

AbstractThis paper reports on a large scale cross‐sectional study examining subjective perceptions of community social life held by a randomly selected sample of residents (n = 428) in all small rural settings (n = 89) of the region of North Aegean Sea. The notion of social capital was used as a conceptual tool in order to explore different aspects of the relational life of contemporary rural communities. This study has two aims: First to provide an account of rural residents' perceptions of village life in terms of interpersonal support, mutual aid, trust, social cohesion and community competence, and second to examine the suitability of the social capital notion within the specific cultural context. A combination of data collection procedures and a range of sources were employed, such as key informants, rural residents and researchers' field observations. The findings indicate that small farming communities of high devotion with deep roots and strong sense of belonging face severe demographic imbalance and experience low civic power given the limited links with external agents. The mainstream notion of social capital as an unconditionally beneficial factor is thus questioned. The findings call for revisiting its relevance across communities with varying capacities and needs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Lives of dust and water: an anthropology of change and resistance in northwestern Mexico

Along the coast of northwestern Mexico, pink gold may mean wealth for some, but the new global economy has imposed terrible burdens on many sectors of the population. State and regional economic development policies have supported the use of natural resources for commercial export, resulting in the rapid growth of agriculture and shrimp aquaculture. Environmental pressures have contributed to the degradation of marine ecosystems, and once self-reliant rural populations have been driven to wage and subsistence labor in order to survive. This book eloquently explains how contemporary rural communities in southern Sinaloa have responded to economic and ecological changes affecting the entire nation. A political ecology of human survival in one of the most important ecological regions of Mexico, it describes how these communities contest environmental degradation and economic impoverishment arising from political and economic forces beyond their control. Maria Luz Cruz-Torres evokes the rich and varied experiences of the people who live in the villages of Celaya and El Cerro, showing how they invent and utilize their own social capital to emerge as whole persons in the face of globalization. She traces the histories of the two villages to illustrate the complex variation involved in community formation and to show how people respond to and utilize Mexican law and reform. Surrounded by limited resources, poverty, illness, sudden death, and daily oppression, these men and women create innovative social and cultural forms that mitigate these impacts. Cruz-Torres reveals not only how they manage to survive in the midst of horrendous circumstances but also how they transcend those impediments with dignity. She details the participation of household members in the subsistence, formal, and informal sectors of the economy, and how women use a variety of resources to guarantee their families survival. A sometimes tragic but ultimately vibrant story of human resistance, Lives of Dust and Water offers an important look at a little-studied but dynamically developing region of Mexico. It contributes to a more precise understanding of how rural coastal communities in Mexico emerged and continue to develop and adjust to the uncertainties of the globalizing world.

Narratives of Community and Change in a Contemporary Rural Setting: The Case of Duaringa, Queensland

Contemporary rural communities are being affected by a range of changes and processes in Australia, including major changes in demographic patterns; the organisation and performance of primary industries; levels of government support for economic and social infrastructure; and wider developments in technology and changing socio‐cultural values. The impact of these processes has been felt unequally and small communities which have had a traditionally close relationship with agricultural industries are particularly challenged. The current paper reports on one such community and provides the opportunity to analyse both the the substance and cultural understandings of such forms of rural change/uncoupling. The paper presents local narratives of community and change in Duaringa, Central Queensland and responds to recent international literature suggesting that the meanings and politics of rural change are as significant as the economic trends that are occurring. The Duaringa narratives demonstrate both the substance and dynamics of expressions of community (and loss). And the paper concludes that these meanings are also influenced by wider processes including consumption‐oriented lifestyles and national interests in South East Asian relations.

Local Ecological Knowledge and Institutional Dynamics for Ecosystem Management: A Study of Lake Racken Watershed, Sweden

The sustainable use of resources requires that management practices and institutions take into account the dynamics of the ecosystem. In this paper, we explore the role of local ecological knowledge and show how it is used in management practices by a local fishing association in a contemporary rural Swedish community. We focus on the local management of crayfish, a common-pool resource, and also address the way crayfish management is linked to institutions at different levels of Swedish society. Methods from the social sciences were used for information gathering, and the results were analyzed within the framework of ecosystem management. We found that the practices of local fishing association resemble an ecosystem approach to crayfish management. Our results indicate that local users have substantial knowledge of resource and ecosystem dynamics from the level of the individual crayfish to that of the watershed, as reflected in a variety of interrelated management practices embedded in and influenced by institutions at several levels. We propose that this policy of monitoring at several levels simultaneously, together with the interpretation of a bundle of indicators and associated management responses, enhances the possibility of building ecological resilience into the watershed. Furthermore, we found that flexibility and adaptation are required to avoid command-and-control pathways of resource management. We were able to trace the development of the local fishing association as a response to crisis, followed by the creation of an opportunity for reorganization and the recognition of slow ecosystem structuring variables, and also to define the role of knowledgeable individuals in the whole process. We discuss the key roles of adaptive capacity, institutional learning, and institutional memory for successful ecosystem management and conclude that scientific adaptive management could benefit from a more explicit collaboration with flexible community-based systems of resource management for the implementation of policies as experiments.

Who Participates? Determinants of Participation in a Community Development Project in Guatemala

ABSTRACT “Participation” has become an accepted doctrine in contemporary rural community development practice, despite persistent ambiguities. However, who are the people who participate? The various variables of participation referred to in the existing literature, are systematically examined in a case study of community project in Guatemala. The results illustrate that the rural population is heterogeneous, and demonstrate that participation is significantly associated with socio-economic characteristics. Participatory projects respond mainly to the needs of the middle class in rural communities. Participation and non-participation within this “middle” socio-economic strata are best explained by cultural values, individual characteristics, and community factionalism.

Agricultural Trajectories (1961–991), Resulting Agricultural Profiles and Current Sociodemographic Profiles of Rural Communities in Southern Quebec (Canada): A Typological Outline

The transformation of the rural areas in Quebec is a result of the decrease in the agricultural population, the spread of the periurban fringes, and the appropriation of areas by seasonal residents. To what extent have these phenomena evolved according to different spaces, from one municipality to the other? Have they made the territory more homogeneous, or have they rather contributed to produce new spatial patterns? What are the dominant traits of the rural communities’ sociodemographic profiles that are attributed to these trajectories? Considerable work remains to be done in order to characterize the evolving trajectories, induced by these phenomena, and the resulting spatial patterns. Based on the agricultural and sociodemographic indicators available in Canadian censuses, and the possibilities offered by the multivaried analyses; the present research aims to identify typological outlines apt to report on: (1) evolving agricultural trajectories (1961–1991); (2) resulting agricultural profiles; and (3) current sociodemographic profiles. Two observations result from these outlines. First, resulting from the two main agricultural trajectories observed (intensification-regression), the five following agricultural profiles were noticed for 1991: vegetable crop intensive farming, cereal crop intensive farming, moderately intensive farming, extensive cattle farming, and marginalised farming. Second, on the sociodemographic level, the identification of seven rural municipality groups (predominantly agricultural, agricultural in transition, marginalised agricultural, periurban, small mutating industrial centre, traditional and high-class rural amenity municipalities) accounts for the diversity of social recomposition shapes. This paper attempts to contribute to the understanding of spatial and demographic dynamics of contemporary rural communities.

Neighborhoods and Communities

The purpose of this article lies in tracing historically the development of the rural community research in U.S.A. from its origin to the present. At first, discussions are focussed upon the ideas of the pioneers in rural sociology. Galpin's work, in 1915, was the first to see the real nature of rural community and to develop the method of delimiting its boundaries. After this pioneering work, two types of studies followed the one was that of neighborhoods and the other, that of town-country relationships. Kold led the way of the neighborhood study. He defined the neighborhood as the rural primary group and emphasized its importance in rural areas. Other neighborhood studies also came to the same conclusion as this. On the other hand, Sanderson explained well-definitely Galpin's rurban community through the detailed analysis of modern rural life as well as the older forms of group living, and predicted the absorption of smaller centers into larger ones. Zimmerman, in contrast with Sanderson's explanation based on the gesellschaftlich principle, took into consideration the gemeinschaftlich characters of smaller centers and insisted the persistence of them. Secondly, discussions concern with criticisms posed against the above stated pioneer's works and new types of community study in connection with changes occurring in the country. As for the neighborhood, the first question raises against the fixed conception on the existence of the neighborhood and the method of identifying it by local name alone, with weakening and losing importance of neighborhoods. Through this criticism, Mayoproposes the field reconnaissance survey, and Slocum, the cognitive research. The second question is made on the problem that by what group the function of the neighborhood in local programs should be performed. Loomis emphasizes the importance of the informal group in action programs, and Ryan, the special interest group. While the rural community enhances its solidarity, it becomes complex and loses its self-suffiency. In the series of “Rural Organization Study” many writers doubting the validity of the classification between community and neighborhood, use the conception of the locality group including both and give ratings on services and group identification in eachlocality group. The interdependence among centers asserts itself, along with the loss of self-sufficiency in the rural community. In this process, the dominance of larger centers such as countyseat tow ns becomes more and more conspicious. Brunner, however, points out through the analysis of village population that smaller centers persist even under these circumstances. Kolb recognizes the interrelatedness and interdependency among centers through the repetitive researches in Walworth county and concludes that each locality group must be wayed out and have the flexibility to adjust to the changing situation. In concluding the report, a great deal of data on the rural community have been accumulated, indeed, but there has been, as Smith puts it, no throughgoing analysis of the evolution and present status of neighborhood and community. It seem safe to say that only the series of “Rural Organization Study” and “Culture of Contemporary Rural Community Study” intend to make generalization and comparative study of these locality groups.

Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: El Cerrito, New Mexico.Olen Leonard , C. P. LoomisCulture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Sublette, Kansas.Earl H. BellCulture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Landaff, New Hampshire.Kenneth MacLeish , Kimball YoungCulture of a Contemporary Rural Community: The Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.Walter M. KollmorgenCulture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Irwin, Iowa.Edward O. Moe

<i>Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: El Cerrito, New Mexico.</i>Olen Leonard , C. P. Loomis<i>Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Sublette, Kansas.</i>Earl H. Bell<i>Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Landaff, New Hampshire.</i>Kenneth MacLeish , Kimball Young<i>Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: The Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.</i>Walter M. Kollmorgen<i>Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Irwin, Iowa.</i>Edward O. Moe

Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Irwin, Iowa.

Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community: Irwin, Iowa.

Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community.

Culture of a Contemporary Rural Community.