Experience Of Rural Communities Research Articles

Natural regeneration of drylands and associated pathways to human health outcomes: Perspectives from rural households

Land degradation and climate change are intertwined global challenges, their implications on human health are driven by the unsustainable use of natural resources, resulting in the loss of vital ecosystem services that support human health. There are equity implications in that landscape degradation disproportionately affects vulnerable populations that live in the most fragile ecosystems. Solutions to reverse degradation are increasingly considered attractive because of their ability to meet multiple societal objectives, however, their implementation has outpaced research on impact; the research and evidence gaps are particularly acute in relation to quantifying the health and well-being impacts of nature-based solutions. This study documents the experiences of rural communities implementing Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) in Central Tanzanian drylands, which integrates trees in agricultural landscapes. FMNR technique has been hailed as the largest positive environmental transformation in African drylands due to its effectiveness in restoring landscapes at very low costs. Despite its success, the impact on human well-being is largely unquantified. We used in-depth group discussions across four villages to document how respondents perceive the health and well-being impacts of natural regeneration. We thereafter adapted the ecosystem services cascade model to conceptualise the pathways between natural regeneration and impact on health and well-being. Respondents across all study sites unanimously reported how FMNR implementation has reversed decades of land degradation, resulting in physical and mental health benefits that can be linked to food and nutritional security, improved air and water quality, income diversification, heat adaptation and gender equality. We demonstrate how the application of the cascade model can generate causal pathways that 1) map how changes in ecosystem structure, functions and services can result in measurable health outcomes, and, 2) support empirical investigation by defining concrete metrics for monitoring and evaluation of interventions.

The role of social capital as a key player in disaster risk comprehension and dissemination: lived experience of rural communities in Pakistan

The role of social capital as a key player in disaster risk comprehension and dissemination: lived experience of rural communities in Pakistan

Challenges for Online Sermons and Online Communion during Covid-19 Pandemic: A Historical Perspective of Rural Congregations in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe

This article aimed to investigate the challenges rural congregations face in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe. The presentation employed literature review and documentary reviews such as church magazines because it is historical in nature. The findings showed that, unlike urban congregations who continued to benefit through digital gadgets to receive online sermons and online communion, rural congregations lag in all aspects involving digital sermons. Using face-to-face interviews and archival research, this paper proposes improved sermon dissemination packaging as key to the effective spread of the word in the face of difficulties in accessing technologically disseminated sermons in rural areas in Zimbabwe. Underpinned on the technological determinism theory, this paper unpacks technologically based preaching approaches that can be used to send sermons to all areas to improve Christian lives in rural areas in Zimbabwe. The study used a qualitative exploratory study designed to probe the perceptions and experiences of rural communities on issues about online sermon delivery communication. A qualitative research design enabled the researchers to interact with the study’s participants. Rural congregations in the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe faced several challenges. The most reported challenges were a lack of appreciation for using electronic gadgets to access platforms such as Zoom, Youtube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Google Meet and a lack of data and network connectivity resources. It was recommended that the Reformed Church in Zimbabwe strive to make an effort to capacitate pastors in rural congregations and their congregations so that they are well equipped with user-friendly electronic gadgets even in remote areas. This helps the church to benefit and continue to be enlightened with the word of God and communion even during the advent of pandemics such as COVID-19.

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF MYCOLOGICAL CULINARY HERITAGE AS A TOURIST RESOURCE AND ITS DIMENSIONS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Purpose. To identify contributions to the sustainability of the territory from the tourist uses of mycological culinary heritage, within the context of late capitalism. Method. Multiple case studies with a qualitative and exploratory approach. No probabilistic sampling by snowball technique and validation by saturation criterion, to develop multiple perspectives through triangulation strategy. Semi-structured interviews (N = 24) applied to key informants around the practice of mycological tourism. Findings. The cases studied showed evidence of the contributions that mycological tourism can generate in the economic, environmental and social dimensions of sustainable development. However, the capacity of these very specific initiatives for their incorporation into major development strategies is not clear. There is the ambivalence between the preservation of heritage and its economic use, related to the hedonistic and experiential logic of late capitalism. Research and conclusions limitations. This is a case study only recovering the internal perspective of some communities in central Mexico that participate in mycological tourism strategies. Practical implications. Qualitative studies that provide a deep vision regarding tourism experience of rural communities are a useful source of information for the design of public policies that meet the real needs of their users and to propose development strategies, based on the characteristics of each context. Originality. The articulation between tourism based on wild foods and sustainability, from a critical and qualitative perspective. Type of paper. Research article.

The Participatory Budgeting and Its contribution to Local Management and Governance: Review of Experience of Rural Communities from the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest

In Ecuador, the participatory political design of the political party forming the government from 2007 to 2017, along with the constitution of 2018, created opportunities for citizen participation. Participatory budgeting (PB) is the most commonly used citizen participation mechanism. The direct participation of citizens is reflected in improving the governance by democratizing decision processes. The contribution of PB to the local management and governance of seven rural communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon was analyzed using a case study. Based on (1) the level of compliance with municipal planning through management indicators and, the amounts allocated to PB, (2) along with the level of citizen satisfaction, complementary perspectives (acquired through a survey) on the implementation of PB are provided. These sources of evidence allowed us to critically assess the effects of PB in the improvement of local management and governance. We found low levels of municipal planning compliance, i.e., a 20% (2017) and 43% (2018), high levels of citizen dissatisfaction (around 91%) and also a “disagreement” with the PB implementation process. Finally, it is observed that the implementation of the participatory budget in rural communities presents deficiencies that limit the obtaining of representative benefits and that imply an improvement in the governance and quality of life of the citizenry. This is mainly caused by the low interest of citizens to participate in the phases of execution and monitoring of projects, due to a low culture and participatory education.

Pipelining Appalachia: A perspective on the everyday lived experiences of rural communities at the frontline of energy distribution networks development

The transport of natural gas through transmission and distribution networks spans 2.4 million miles of underground and above ground pipelines in the USA. This Perspective uses a critical energy justice framework to analyze Appalachian's everyday lived experiences at the frontline of energy distribution network development. The practice of installing pipelines, as well as the sheer magnitude of the pipeline system, has transformed small rural communities into industrial sites. This Perspective also adds to the emerging concept of energy justice by bringing to the forefront Appalachian residents’ voices in relation to burgeoning pipeline constructions, which are often missing from the debate on energy independence. Energy justice is based on the principle that people should not only have safe and affordable energy, but they should be protected from disproportionate negative impacts associated with generating and transmitting energy as well. Our findings are that those who reside near pipelines express fear of explosions, leaks, and negative health outcomes and are disproportionately impacted. In addition, they are concerned about regulation, state responsibility, and threats of eminent domain. We highlight how these communities are socially affected, and how residents’ daily lives are altered in inequitable ways by the construction of energy distribution networks.

Dental and Dental Therapy Students' Perspectives on How to Build Interest in and Commitment to Rural Dentistry.

Few dental graduates are choosing to practice in rural areas, thereby aggravating the shortage of dentists in rural communities. The aim of this study was to identify factors that may motivate dental and dental therapy students to commit to rural practice. This qualitative study used a triangulation of data sources: students' reflection papers on their rural community experience, transcripts of focus groups with students, and personal statements submitted by three cohorts of student participants in a rural dentistry program in a U.S. dental school in 2016, 2017, and 2018. Common themes emerged in each data source, and a congruence of themes from the three data sources was identified: corrected misconceptions of rural dental practice, the gravity of lack of access to care, quality of relationships between practitioners and patients and within the dental team, and the role of dentists in alleviating health disparities. Students cited the critical role dentists play in stimulating interest to consider dentistry as a career and in inspiring rural practice after graduation. Immersion in a rural community under the mentorship of a rural dentist may correct misconceptions and attract students to rural practice. This study's results suggest that dental schools need to provide students with more opportunities to witness the practice of rural dentists and experience rural living in order to draw them towards rural practice after graduation.

Asking the right questions in adaptation research and practice: Seeing beyond climate impacts in rural Nepal

Adaptation research and practice too often overlooks the wider social context within which climate change is experienced. Mainstream approaches frame adaptation problems in terms of the consequences that flow from biophysical impacts and as a result, we argue, ask the wrong questions. A complementary approach gaining ground in the field, foregrounding the social, economic and political context, reveals differentiation in adaptation need, and how climate impacts interconnect with wider processes of change. In this paper, we illustrate how this kind of approach frames a different set of questions about adaptation using the case of Nepal. Drawing on fieldwork and a review of literature, we contrast the questions that emerge from adaptation research and practice that take climate risk as a starting point with the questions that emerge from examination of contemporary rural livelihoods. We find that while adaptation efforts are often centred around securing agricultural production and are predicated on climate risk management, rural livelihoods are caught in a wider process of transformation. The numbers of people involved in farming are declining, and households are experiencing the effects of rising education, abandonment of rural land, increasing wages, burgeoning mechanisation, and high levels of migration into the global labour market. We find the epistemological framing of adaptation too narrow to account for these changes, as it understands the experiences of rural communities through the lens of climate risk. We propose that rather than seeking to integrate local understandings into a fixed, impacts-orientated epistemology, it is necessary to premise adaptation on an epistemology capable of exploring how change occurs. Asking the right questions thus means opening up adaptation by asking: ‘what are the most significant changes taking place in people's lives?’, along with the more standard: ‘what are the impacts of climate change?’ Viewing adaptation as occurring between and within these two perspectives has the potential to reveal new vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation practice to act upon.

Students’ Satisfaction of School Lunch According to the Dietary Habit and Educational Experience of Nutrition and Food

This paper verifies the effect of the personal dietary habits on students’ school lunch satisfaction and the effect of food related activities such as rural communities’ experience and safe and nutrition education. Personal dietary habits (5-Likert scale), satisfaction of school lunch (5-Likert scale), and rural community experiences, are investigated. A survey from 10 middle schools in Gyeonggi-do was undertaken from September to October, 2014. Multi regression analysis and t-test are applied. This study applied factor analysis and derived three latent variables in order to know the latent variables of eating habits. Students with rural communities’ experience are satisfied with school lunches more than those who have not experienced it. Further related education (such as eating habits, safe and organic food) have a positive effect on students’ school lunch satisfaction. Appreciation for school lunch (p<.001) and eating breakfast (p<.01) are significant among the independent variables that included three latent variables, the taste of school lunch (p<.001), eating well all kinds of food (p<.001). The results shows that students with a balanced diet are more satisfied with school lunches. Personal eating habits and understanding food and agriculture are important factors to improve students’ satisfaction about school lunch on top of the quality of food and facilities. Students with rural community experience show improved satisfaction and this experience can be a good way for students to understand food. Food related education (including farming) are recommended to raise student school lunch satisfaction. Keywords: school lunch, satisfaction, dietary habit, nutritional education, rural community experience

Early Medieval Settlement and Social Power: The Middle Anglo-Saxon ‘Home Farm’

THE LAST TWO DECADES have witnessed a marked rise in middle Anglo-Saxon settlement research, as archaeologists have become increasingly aware of the way in which this transformative period in English history can be recognised through habitation sites. Though a period during which individuals and institutions seemingly wielded unprecedented new power, archaeologists have struggled to identify many of the processes or ‘motors’ by which such authority was articulated in the landscape. This paper concerns itself with understanding one such driver, demonstrating how early medieval kings shifted power from tribute-orientated regimes to ones rooted in agricultural exploitation. The Church was fundamental to this shift in authority, and was used as a means of consolidating new power relations. In order to sustain more permanent clerical communities, the Church developed core agricultural areas surrounding their centres, known as inland, upon which were established early types of ‘home farm’. In addition to their functional purpose middle Anglo-Saxon ‘home farms’ were subject to exceptionally high degrees of spatial ordering. Such definition of settlement space, which now included property plots and houses defined by boundaries of unprecedented permanence, allowed elites to shape and consolidate perceptions of social order in the landscape. Power was now being materialised, not only through agricultural production but also through the lived experience of rural communities, as a social hierarchy which considered the place of kings as divinely appointed became firmly established.

Adherence to artemether-lumefantrine drug combination: a rural community experience six years after change of malaria treatment policy in Tanzania

Adherence to artemether-lumefantrine drug combination: a rural community experience six years after change of malaria treatment policy in Tanzania

Adherence to artemether-lumefantrine drug combination: a rural community experience six years after change of malaria treatment policy in Tanzania.

BackgroundAdherence to multidosing is challenging worldwide. This study assessed the extent of adherence to multidosing artemether-lumefantrine (ALu) in a rural community in Tanzania, six years after switching from single dose policy of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine.MethodsThis study was a prospective observational, open label, non-randomized study involving 151 patients with uncomplicated malaria recruited at Fukayosi dispensary in Bagamoyo district in Tanzania. Patients treated with ALu were visited at home on day 3 for interview on drug intake, capillary blood sample collection for microscopy and ALu tablets count. Venous blood samples (2 ml) for determination of blood lumefantrine concentrations and blood slides for microscopy were collected on day-7. Kappa’s coefficient was used to assess agreement between pill count and self-report. Adherence was categorized depending on the tablets remaining and what the patient reported. Only those with empty blister pack available but no tablet remaining and reported taking all six doses of ALu at a correct dose and correct time were regarded as definite adherent. The rest were either probable adherent or probable non-adherent.ResultsOnly 14.9% of the patients were definite adherent the rest took the drug at incorrect time or did not finish the tablets. Out of 90 patients with analysed plasma samples for lumefantrine blood concentrations, 13/90 (14.4.0%) had lumefantrine concentrations <175 ng/ml. There was no difference in mean lumefantrine concentration in the patients who stated to have taken all doses as required (561.61 ng/ml 95% CI = 419.81-703.41) compared to those who stated to have not adhered well to drug intake (490.95 ng/ml, 95% CI = 404.18-577.7074 (p = 0.643). None of the patients had detectable parasites by microscopy on day-3 and day-7 regardless of adherence status and the level of day-7 blood lumefantrine. There was strong agreement between the self-reported responses on drug intake and pill-counts (kappa coefficient = 0.955). Age, sex, education and place where first dose was taken were associated with adherence.ConclusionsThe overall adherence six years after the change of malaria treatment policy was low. It is, therefore, important to continuously monitor the level of adherence to treatment in order to get the current situation and institute corrective measures on time.

Emerging Issues on the Sustainability of the Community Based Rural Water Resources Management Approach in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of Gwanda District

Although there is considerable on-going debate about the suitability and sustainability of community based water resources management (CBWRM) in Africa as a water provision strategy, evidence shows that this approach has gone a long way in promoting access to clean water amongst rural African communities. CBWRM provides an alternative approach to water provision for rural communities. This paper examines how the strategy has been operationalised in Gwanda District in Zimbabwe. The paper examines the experiences of rural communities in using CBWRM. Data was collected using focus group discussions, key informant in-depth interviews and a survey of 685 households in Gwanda district across five wards. The findings of this study are that 67% of the surveyed rural communities in Gwanda depended on community managed water resources mostly in the form of boreholes and protected wells. High rates of nun-functional sources were reported at 60-70% in most wards. Several system weaknesses were noted in the current CBWRM set-up including a depletion of committee memberships, inadequate community resources, limited agency and government support. This paper makes several recommendations on strengthening the capacity of CBWRM in Zimbabwe and Africa.

Faculty staff and rural placement supervisors' pre‐ and post‐placement perceptions of a clinical rural placement programme in NSW Australia

Staff views on a rural clinical placement involving 4th year dental undergraduates from the University of Sydney (Australia) were collected in order to monitor whether the programme was feasible and acceptable to the academic Faculty Staff and the rural clinical supervisors. An evaluation of the rural placement programme was undertaken in 2009 at three rural sites in New South Wales (Australia). Semi-structured pre- and post-placement in person interviews recorded the views of three University Faculty Staff whilst similar data were collected by telephone interviews for three supervising clinicians at the rural clinical sites. Interviews gathered opinions on the organisation, implementation and outcomes of the rural placement programme. Eight qualitative analysis identified themes were specified and included communication, programme duration, effect on students and staff, benefits of the programme, rural intentions, programme sustainability and the success of the programme. Positive pre-placement aspects were potentially good clinical experience, new environment, sharing of knowledge and interaction with a rural community. Negative issues were anxieties about students' clinical ability to offer a service, missing lectures and maintaining clinical training quotas. The post-placement themes were generally positive; staff reported that the students enjoyed the rural community experience, their communication and clinical skills improved. According to the staff, the placement programme was feasible and provided acceptable positive clinical and personal development for the students. This research will help educators planning to incorporate a rural clinical programme into a University curriculum.

Stewart Lockie and David Carpenter: agriculture, biodiversity and markets: livelihoods and agroecology in comparative perspective

This book represents collaborative teamwork on agriculture, biodiversity and markets by a number of concerned researchers and contributors. It gives an extensive and unique overview of livelihoods and agroecology from a comparative perspective and envisions a related future. In striving to stimulate attention to this topic, the authors do an excellent job of bringing together a rich diversity of empirical material from around the world to analyze the complex interdependencies between biodiversity protection and agricultural livelihoods. The book provides new and better insights into whether, why and how biodiversity values should be given pride of place in agroecosystems. Biodiversity plays a pivotal role in determining agricultural production and shaping the livelihoods of agricultural communities. This volume examines the relationships among agricultural biodiversity, livelihoods and markets effectively. These authors argue that no single disciplinary position does justice to the range of strategies that farmers use to manage agrobiodiversity and other livelihood assets as they adapt to changing social, economic and environmental circumstances. Chapters explore relationships among the exploitation and conservation of agricultural biodiversity and the livelihoods of agricultural communities; and evaluate the capacity of national and multilateral institutions and policy settings to support the protection and capture by communities of agrobiodiversity values. The place of ecosystem services in valuing biodiversity in the marketplace is emphasized. A number of authors in this book assess the potential for market-based instruments and initiatives to encourage the protection of biodiversity. Others compare agrobiodiversity/community relationships, and the effectiveness of instruments designed to enhance these across international boundaries. In four parts, the editors and chapter authors emphasize the need for new approaches to biological diversity and the sustainability of the global ecosystem in general and of agriculture in particular. In the opening section, the editors and contributors attempt to introduce two seemingly contradictory things. On the one hand, they problematize the notion of biodiversity as it is applied to agricultural systems and their sustainability; on the other, they seek to restore some clarity by highlighting the conceptual issues, research questions and policy dilemmas of significant importance for biodiversity and agricultural communities’ sustainability. Part 2 effectively addresses agro-biodiversity and modernization, while emphasizing their contribution to intensive farming systems. This section argues that when farmers and farming businesses are well informed about the benefits of conservation, they are able to integrate conservation goals into decision making through agricultural production practices. Part 3 examines how certification systems affect farm and forest level biodiversity, and clarifies the specific impacts of the international standardization of environmental certification procedures and related markets. Part 4 brings out the conservation values resulting from eco-agriculture systems and discusses the rationale behind payments for ecosystem services schemes as they apply to different stakeholder groups. The book chapters draw on empirical case studies from across the developed and developing worlds. In so doing, the book not only points to similarities and differences in the experience of rural communities. It also shows how F. Mirzaei (&) Department of Livestock Production and Management, Animal Science Research Institute, 31585 Karaj, Iran e-mail: farmir2003203@yahoo.com

Declining Youth In‐migration in Rural Western Australia: the Role of Perceptions of Rural Employment and Lifestyle Opportunities

AbstractOver the last two decades there has been a steady decline in youth migration to Australian rural communities. Generally, inland agricultural communities are the most seriously impacted by this trend. Coupled with high rates of youth out‐migration, many rural communities face difficulties in attracting young people to fill skilled job vacancies and apprentice positions. Declining youth in‐migration also has social consequences, effectively reducing the capacity of rural communities to replenish their skill base and social networks. This research identifies how urban‐based youth perceive rural lifestyles and employment opportunities and how this is linked to their willingness to move to rural areas. The study reveals that young people attach undesirable aesthetic values to the physical environment of inland rural communities and perceive them as socially isolating and as having minimal opportunities for career advancement. However, the perceptions of those who live, or had lived, in rural areas are far more positive than those who have had little experience in rural communities. Accordingly, those who had previously lived in inland regions were far more likely to move to rural areas than those who had limited lived experience of rural communities. Overall, the research found that perceptions of lifestyle and employment opportunities were important influences on young people's willingness to move to rural communities.

Introduction: Special Issue on Poverty and Community Development

There is something systematic about the way that poor households are distributed across the U.S. landscape: tends to concentrate in central city neighborhoods and remote rural communities. The highest rates in 2000 were found in central counties and in remote rural counties, and the lowest rates in the fringe counties of large metropolitan areas. (1) [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Urban scholars have long recognized the importance of neighborhoods in shaping family status and developmental outcomes for children and youth (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Aber, 1997). The role of rural communities in shaping social and family outcomes has also received scholarly attention (Fitchen, 1991; Duncan, 1999; Weber et al., 2005). As social policy in the United States moved from a needs-based entitlement strategy to an income support strategy for non-elderly populations conditional on participation in work, the importance of local community and regional context to the success of social policy in reducing was increasingly recognized in both urban and rural areas (Jargowsky, 2003; Weber et al., 2002). The Rural Poverty Research Center (RPRC) of the Rural Policy Research Institute (RUPRI), one of three area research centers selected for federal support in 2002, focused its research agenda on understanding how local economic and social context affects and conditions the effectiveness of alternative anti-poverty strategies and policies. (2) In 2004 and 2005, the RPRC and the four Regional Rural Development Centers co-sponsored regional research conferences in Chicago, Illinois; Memphis, Tennessee; University Park, Pennsylvania; and Logan, Utah, in which regional researchers shared their current research on the causes and correlates of and on policies to reduce poverty. (3) This special issue of Community Development draws on papers presented at these conferences. The six papers that comprise this issue contribute to both theoretical and empirical literature on and community development, and outline a research agenda that would ground future research more firmly in the experiences of rural communities and disadvantaged populations. We selected from among the unpublished papers presented at the four conferences and invited the authors to submit them to be considered for inclusion in a special issue of Community Development focusing on in rural communities. Eight authors accepted our invitation, and submitted papers that were subjected to anonymous peer review. Five papers were ultimately accepted for publication in this special issue. We subsequently asked Jim Richardson of the National Rural Funders Collaborative to write an essay based on his presentation at the Western Rural Poverty Research Conference about grounding research on the lived experience of rural communities. He engaged Jonathan London in co-authoring the final paper in this issue. The lead article in this issue, Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development, by Ted Bradshaw, sets the stage for the other papers by outlining five competing of and showing how each shapes policy discussions. Bradshaw begins with the observation that since most rural community development efforts aim to relieve causes or symptoms of poverty and since shape how programs are designed, it matters which theory drives policy. He identifies five theories of poverty that locate causes within (1) the individual (individual deficiencies and bad choices); (2) the relevant culture (dysfunctional subcultural norms); (3) political and economic structures (systematic barriers to opportunity); (4) geographic areas (disadvantages associated with particular places); and (5) a complex of cumulative and cyclical interactions between groups and individuals. Bradshaw identifies how various community development approaches are shaped by different and how each of the contributes to the overall process of reduction. …

Lesotho's land tenure regimes: experiences of rural communities and the calls for land reform

Calls to reform Lesotho's traditional or customary land tenure abound. The main argument of those who call for reform is that there is no security of tenure, and therefore economic development and foreign and local investment in agriculture are lacking. Lately, traditional land tenure has been blamed for environmental degradation of agricultural land. Using oral and documentary evidence collected in the Rothe Ward, Mafeteng District, and the Mafeteng District Secretary's Office, this paper argues that the traditional land tenure is ambiguous on ownership of land, and is in need of reform designed to prevent various forms of chiefly abuse. However, no evidence of insecurity of tenure per se was found. Instead, poverty and lack of capital with which to acquire agricultural inputs in order to improve production were most prevalent in the responses of rural communities. Finally, the paper ends on a note of caution that reforms as envisaged may have calamitous long-term consequences both for rural communities and the country.

Islands of Holiness: Rural Religion in Upstate New York, 1790-1860.

Through an examination of religious life in a typical northern rural locale-Cortland County, New York-from 1790 to 1860, Curtis D. Johnson adds to our understanding of the Second Great Awakening, an intellectual and religious watershed in American history. Offering both quantitative and qualitative analyses of churches' memberships, ideologies, and activities, he maintains that scholars have misunderstood the historical significance of evangelicalism. Johnson contends that these churches did not constitute society, nor were they microcosms of it; rather, they evolved from embattled congregations of the saved-islands of holiness-to ideologically conservative, organizationally unified, integrated parts of society. He uncovers the many diversities of Protestantism in the form of splits between evangelicals and non-evangelicals, formalists and anti-formalists, Arminians and Calvinists, Old School traditionalists and Oberlin perfectionists, church members and religious society members. At the heart of the revivalistic impulse, he argues, was ideological conflict-primarily between Calvinists and Arminians-with gender politics and internal church dynamics also contributing to the evangelical tumult. With a special interest in the Awakening's impact on congregational life, Johnson focuses on rural community experience to challenge the findings of historians who have concentrated exclusively on urban religious expression. He concludes that the importance of the various factions of evangelicalism lies in their common exhortation to republicanism and reform: these congregations, he says, influenced social change out of proportion to their numbers because activism was a central tenet of their religion. Islands of Holiness is a gem of local history. A meticulously researched book, it makes a valuable contribution to an enduring aspect of the social history of American religious expression.

Promoting community participation through training: The DANIDA/UNCHS training programme

Adaptation research and practice too often overlooks the wider social context within which climate change is experienced. Mainstream approaches frame adaptation problems in terms of the consequences that flow from biophysical impacts and as a result, we argue, ask the wrong questions. A complementary approach gaining ground in the field, foregrounding the social, economic and political context, reveals differentiation in adaptation need, and how climate impacts interconnect with wider processes of change. In this paper, we illustrate how this kind of approach frames a different set of questions about adaptation using the case of Nepal. Drawing on fieldwork and a review of literature, we contrast the questions that emerge from adaptation research and practice that take climate risk as a starting point with the questions that emerge from examination of contemporary rural livelihoods. We find that while adaptation efforts are often centred around securing agricultural production and are predicated on climate risk management, rural livelihoods are caught in a wider process of transformation. The numbers of people involved in farming are declining, and households are experiencing the effects of rising education, abandonment of rural land, increasing wages, burgeoning mechanisation, and high levels of migration into the global labour market. We find the epistemological framing of adaptation too narrow to account for these changes, as it understands the experiences of rural communities through the lens of climate risk. We propose that rather than seeking to integrate local understandings into a fixed, impacts-orientated epistemology, it is necessary to premise adaptation on an epistemology capable of exploring how change occurs. Asking the right questions thus means opening up adaptation by asking: ‘what are the most significant changes taking place in people's lives?’, along with the more standard: ‘what are the impacts of climate change?’ Viewing adaptation as occurring between and within these two perspectives has the potential to reveal new vulnerabilities and opportunities for adaptation practice to act upon.