Cultivating Knowledge

Cultivating Knowledge
Author: Andrew Flachs
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816539634

A single seed is more than just the promise of a plant. In rural south India, seeds represent diverging paths toward a sustainable livelihood. Development programs and global agribusiness promote genetically modified seeds and organic certification as a path toward more sustainable cotton production, but these solutions mask a complex web of economic, social, political, and ecological issues that may have consequences as dire as death. In Cultivating Knowledge anthropologist Andrew Flachs shows how rural farmers come to plant genetically modified or certified organic cotton, sometimes during moments of agrarian crisis. Interweaving ethnographic detail, discussions of ecological knowledge, and deep history, Flachs uncovers the unintended consequences of new technologies, which offer great benefits to some—but at others’ expense. Flachs shows that farmers do not make simple cost-benefit analyses when evaluating new technologies and options. Their evaluation of development is a complex and shifting calculation of social meaning, performance, economics, and personal aspiration. Only by understanding this complicated nexus can we begin to understand sustainable agriculture. By comparing the experiences of farmers engaged with these mutually exclusive visions for the future of agriculture, Cultivating Knowledge investigates the human responses to global agrarian change. It illuminates the local impact of global changes: the slow, persistent dangers of pesticides, inequalities in rural life, the aspirations of people who grow fibers sent around the world, the place of ecological knowledge in modern agriculture, and even the complex threat of suicide. It all begins with a seed.

Agrarian Crisis in India

Agrarian Crisis in India
Author: D. Narasimha Reddy
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 251
Release: 2010-06-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199088306

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the macro- and micro-level issues associated with agrarian distress. It analyses structural, institutional, and policy changes, highlighting the failure of public support system in agriculture. The crisis manifests itself in the form of deceleration in growth and distress of farmers. The case studies from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Punjab bring out the diversity of conditions prevalent in the states.

Why Growth Matters

Why Growth Matters
Author: Jagdish Bhagwati
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2013-04-09
Genre: History
ISBN: 1610392728

In its history since Independence, India has seen widely different economic experiments: from Jawharlal Nehru's pragmatism to the rigid state socialism of Indira Gandhi to the brisk liberalization of the 1990s. So which strategy best addresses India's, and by extension the world's, greatest moral challenge: lifting a great number of extremely poor people out of poverty? Bhagwati and Panagariya argue forcefully that only one strategy will help the poor to any significant effect: economic growth, led by markets overseen and encouraged by liberal state policies. Their radical message has huge consequences for economists, development NGOs and anti-poverty campaigners worldwide. There are vital lessons here not only for Southeast Asia, but for Africa, Eastern Europe, and anyone who cares that the effort to eradicate poverty is more than just good intentions. If you want it to work, you need growth. With all that implies.

Millions Fed

Millions Fed
Author: David J. Spielman
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 179
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 089629661X

Humanity has made enormous progress in the past 50 years toward eliminating hunger and malnutrition. Some five billion people--more than 80 percent of the world's population--have enough food to live healthy, productive lives. Agricultural development has contributed significantly to these gains, while also fostering economic growth and poverty reduction in some of the world's poorest countries.

Reading the Bible in an Age of Crisis

Reading the Bible in an Age of Crisis
Author: Bruce Worthington
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishers
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2015
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1451482868

We live in an age in which economic, ecological, and political crises are not the exception, but the rule. The Cold War polarities that shaped an earlier "political exegesis" have been replaced; Bruce Worthington argues that increasingly, crisis is the engine of a global "turbo-capitalism." In this volume, edited by Worthington, biblical scholars and activists describe and exemplify the shape of a biblical interpretation that takes contemporary crisis seriously as its most important context. Succinct opening essays summarize the salient aspects of our critical situation, especially in relation to the dominance of capitalism and its pervasive values; in later parts, contributions address themes of economic, political, and environmental crisis in dialogue with texts from the First and Second Testaments. Throughout the volume, the authors are careful to describe the basis for making interpretive analogies across historical, cultural, and socioeconomic distances between the world of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and our own. Richard A. Horsley writes a postscript pointing to next steps in political interpretation.

Environment, Media and Communication

Environment, Media and Communication
Author: Anders Hansen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2010-03-02
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1135280932

Communication about ‘the environment’ in and through a broad array of news, advertising, art and entertainment media is one of the major sources of public and political understanding of definitions, issues and problems associated with the environment. Environment, Media and Communication examines the social, cultural and political roles of the media as a public arena for images, representations, definitions and controversy regarding the environment. The book starts by discussing and outlining a framework for analyzing media and communication roles in the emergence of the environment and environmental problems as issues for public and political concern. It proceeds to examine who and what drives the public agenda on environmental issues, addressing questions about how governments, scientists, experts, pressure groups and other stakeholders have sought to use traditional as well as newer media for promoting their definitions of the key issues. The media are not merely an open public arena or stage, but rather themselves a key gate-keeper and influence in the process of communicating about the environment: the role of news values, organizational arrangements and professional practices, are thus examined next. Recognizing the importance of wider popular culture narratives to public understanding and communication about the environment and nature, the book proceeds with a discussion of the messages and moral tales communicated about the environment, science and nature in a range of media, including film and advertising media. It shows how this wider context provides important clues to understanding the successes and failures of selected environmental issues or campaigns. The book finishes with an examination of the key approaches and models used for understanding how the media influence and interact with public opinion and political decision-making on environmental issues. Offering a comprehensive introduction to theoretical approaches and models for the study of media and communication roles regarding the environment, and drawing on empirical research evidence and examples from Europe, America, Australia and Asia, the book will be of interest to students in media/communication studies, geography, environmental studies, political science and sociology as wll as to environmental professionals and activists.

Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture

Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture
Author: Ram Lakhan Singh
Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2017-09-12
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0128122382

Biotechnology for Sustainable Agriculture: Emerging Approaches and Strategies is an outstanding collection of current research that integrates basic and advanced concepts of agricultural biotechnology with future development prospects. Using biotechnology with sustainable agriculture effectively contributes to gains in agricultural productivity, enhanced food security, reduced poverty and malnutrition, and more ecologically sustainable means of food production. Written by a panel of experts, this book is unique in its coverage of the broad area of biotechnology for sustainable agriculture. It includes intriguing topics and discussions of areas such as recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering. - Identifies and explores biotechnological tools to enhance sustainability - Encompasses plant and microbial biotechnology, nanotechnology and genetic engineering - Focuses on plant biotechnology and crop improvement to increase yield and resilience - Summarizes the impact of climate change on agriculture, fisheries and livestock

A Frayed History

A Frayed History
Author: Meena Menon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 459
Release: 2017-10-16
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199091498

Once the envy of the world for its quality and variety, Indian cotton today is mired in uncertainty and despair. Though India is the largest producer of cotton, its farmers are trapped in debt, and thousands choose to kill themselves than face an ignominious fate. Handloom weavers, once proud standard-bearers of the country's artisanal heritage, are barely able to scrape together a living. To make matters worse, there is the back-breaking competition with artificial fibres. Meena Menon and Uzramma take us through the fascinating history of cotton in India, examining its illustrious origins, its blood-stained colonial heritage, and the events that led to its current crisis. Amid the bleakness, the authors suggest a silver lining: reviving indigenous cotton—and the handloom industry that spun its fame. Through painstaking research, Menon and Uzramma show that with the right combination of friendly policies and championing the Indian cotton brand, it is possible to restore the fabric's past glory. This is an important book not just for lovers of cotton but anyone concerned with the struggles of Indian agriculture in a brutal, fast-changing market.