New Histories of Agriculture and Rurality (HEC-RS-AGRRUR-22)

HEC-RS-AGRRUR-22

Description

The history of agriculture and the history of rural life have long been marginal fields in mainstream historical research in Europe. Given the urban and industrial bias characteristic of much of contemporary history, not many historians have considered ‘the countryside’ and agricultural production relevant or exciting. In recent years, however, there has been a renewed interest in the history of agriculture and of rural settings. There are multiple reasons for this rediscovery, ranging from a political critique of the neglect of allegedly peripheral regions and actors to the growing concern with environmental degradation and climate change to the renewed historical interest in commodity production and property relations. A large number of research projects are currently under way that deal with the history of food production, natural resources, land grabbing, agricultural modernization and rural development projects, political activism in rural regions, and more. Many of these projects challenge the nation-state framework and work with trans-national, trans-imperial, trans-regional, and global history approaches. This research seminar introduces participants to the existing and emerging historiography and provides an overview of selected regions, topics, actors, and approaches. The time period under consideration is the long twentieth century.