International Rural Sociology Association - IRSA
‘Landgrabbing’ is occupying the minds of rural sociologists throughout the world.
How should we interpret the phenomenon of large-scale land acquisitions that are occurring,
with increased frequency, in both developing and developed nations?
The latest special edition of the International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food (IJSAF) features a collection of papers on private food standards.
To view the eight papers and introduction to the collection please visit the site http://ijsaf.org/contents/20-1/index.html
Professor Philip Lowe Receives Prize for Lifetime Achievement
On January 28th this year, Professor Philip Lowe, Professor of Rural Economy at the Newcastle University in Britain, received Sweden’s Bertebos prize for his significant contribution to sustainable rural development, land-use management and interdisciplinarity. The prestigious award, presented by the King of Sweden on behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy, is for ‘distinguished and practical research in food, agriculture, ecology or animal health’. Congratulations Philip!
For more information, please visit the ESRS website
XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology will be held in Yokohama Japan in July 2014.
For details of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Agriculture and Food (RC 40) program please visit the congress website.
On-line abstract submission will be open in the period June 3, 2013- September 30, 2013.
The ‘making alternative food networks work: hitching the horse of critique to the wagon of improvement’ conference will be held in Los Angeles, California, 9-13 April 2013.
The XXV Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology will be held in Florence, Italy, from 29 July – 1 August 2013. For more information please visit the website: http://www.florenceesrs2013.com/.
The 2013 Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society will be held at the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel from 6-9 August. The theme is ‘An Injury to One is an Injury to All: Resistance and Resilience in an Age of Retrenchment’.
This theme calls attention to the rural roots of solidarity and change in the context of global restructuring and political retrenchment. What can we learn from the struggles of rural peoples? How can we assist in the construction of local alternatives to the global that revitalize networks and enhance community and social well-being? Looking forward, how can the field of rural sociology continue to make contributions to public policy and civil society? Papers and sessions will deal with past and present rural social movements and with what we can learn from their successes and failures. Interest groups will be encouraged to develop sessions on the social bases of resistance and resiliency across place and space. The injuries endured by rural peoples across the globe—physical, social psychological, and socioeconomic—will be explored as a cross-cutting theme for scholarship and action.
Early conference information: The next IRSA Congress is to be held in Toronto, Canada, in August 2016 (dates are still tentative). Read more
Opening address XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology Lisbon, Portugal July 29 2012
Former President Reidar Almås' opening address at the XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology is available here
In-coming President's Address at the XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology, Lisbon, Portugal August 3 2012
In-coming President Geoffrey Lawrence's Address at the XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology, Lisbon, Portugal August 3 2012.
The XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology
A very successful XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology was held in Lisbon, Portugal, between 29 July and 4 August 2012 with over 1000 participants delivering close to 1500 papers. The President congratulates the organizers and Program Committee for an excellent outcome.The final program – along with a number of on-line papers - can be found at the congress website:
http://irsa2012.com/event/wcrs-2012/
Australasian Agri-food Research Network Conference
Last year's Agrifood conference was a resounding success with over 70 delegates from as far afield as the US, UK, Australia and Germany attending the 2012 Agrifood Conference in Palmerston North, New Zealand. The conference offered a lively program of keynote presentations, workshops, parallel sessions and social events. For an overview of the conference please visit: http://www.afrn.org.au/?e=15#body-anchor
Reidar Almås and Hugh Campbell have edited and contributed to a new book on agricultural sustainability: "Rethinking Agricultural Policy Regimes. Food Security, Climate Change and the Future Resilience of Global Agriculture" now published by Emerald Publishing.
This is the first book to try and understand global agricultural policy in the light of new shocks like the World Food Crisis of 2008-2011. This book provides the first discussion of the new term ‘neo-productivism’ in the context of European agricultural policy, and introduces the concept of resilience to discussion of global agricultural policy. Prominent contributors include scholars with an international reputation in the field of agricultural policy, agricultural history and rural sociology.
Read more about the book
International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food
Last year the International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food published a Special Issue about Food Security, compiled by Geoffrey Lawrence and Philip McMichael.
Please visit http://ijsaf.org to view the issue.
Rural sociologists in the media
In order to expose how rural sociologists have made a social impact we are
going to post news on the IRSA website, showing how colleagues have been
active in the media recently. It can be interviews, chronicles or newspaper
articles in which rural sociologists are referred to in a substantial way.
Please send media news about yourself and your colleagues to: g.lawrence@uq.edu.au
