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This edited collection aims to examine the global-rural relationship of migration that shapes rural places. It does this by acknowledging that to understand the impact of the international migration-global nexus, it is essential to explore how it is experienced at a local level - in the context of this book, rural regions. Focusing on agribusiness and rural development, as well as the othering of international migrants and the shifting boundaries of belonging in rural spaces, the chapters in this book examine how globalisation, with migration being a constitutive feature, influences different rural contexts in the ‘Global North'and the impact this has on migrant populations. Chapters demonstrate the harsh lived experiences/realities characterised by mental health issues and emotional labour for migrants, occupational health and safety issues in the workplace and experiences of exclusion and racism from ‘host'communities. These chapters taken together identify a rural-migration nexus where the relationship between international migration and localised rural spaces are mutually constitutive.

Exploring the emerging and vibrant field of critical agrarian studies, this comprehensive Handbook offers interdisciplinary insights from both leading scholars and activists to understand agrarian life, livelihoods, formations and processes of change. It highlights the development of the field, which is characterized by theoretical and methodological pluralism and innovation. The Handbook presents critical analyses of, and examines controversies about, historical and contemporary social structures and processes in agrarian and rural settings from a wide range of perspectives. Chapters explore the origins of critical agrarian studies, the concepts underpinning the diverse theoretical approaches to the field, and the strengths and weaknesses of different methodologies used within the field. Finally, it illuminates debates around the topic and trajectories for future research and development. This will be a vital resource for graduate students, scholars and activists interested in critical agrarian studies. The analytical and empirical insights will also be helpful to students of environmental and development studies as well as agricultural and development economics, human geography and socio-cultural anthropology.

How do people survive and thrive in the uncertain and risk-prone Sahel? Land, Investment, and Migration seeks to answer this question through a long-term study of the people of Dlonguébougou in Central Mali. It uses a combination of infographics, satellite images, interviews, and survey data to present the strategies and fortunes of individuals and their families in this region over 35 years. In the early 1980s Camilla Toulmin spent two years in Dlonguébougou. She has since revisited to explore how climate change, population growth, new technologies, and land-grabs have been affecting the livelihoods and prospects of local people since. Land, Investment, and Migration: Thirty-five Years of Village Life in Mali brings together her findings. A trebling in population, unpredictable rainfall, and the arrival of Chinese investment have forced people into new ways of making ends meet and building up wealth - some doing much better than others. This book presents the search for new cash incomes, the shift of people from village to town, and the erosion of collective solidarity at household and village levels. Land, Investment, and Migration presents a mixed picture of a changing society. It shows the vibrancy of the village economy, rapid uptake of mobile phones and solar panels, and increased migration. It also shows the persistence of large family structures which offer some protection from the risks that many villagers face.

Over the course of the past two decades peripheral European economies in the Balkans and in Eastern Europe have experienced significant structural changes and have adapted to the global economic environment. Agriculture and the processing, using and trading of agricultural products play an important role in their economies. This volume covers several issues facing the contemporary agricultural sector in these countries, such as the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, the identification of an opinion leader portrait in agriculture, the characteristics of using Information and Communication Technologies as tools in the partnerships and internal processes of enterprises throughout the whole agro-food supply chain, the increased need of small-scale artisanal food businesses to seek new markets abroad, the perceptions of Greek olive oil importers in the UK, the barriers that Greek yogurt entrepreneurs face during their export activities, the reasons for the differences in economic performance and the role of tangible and less tangible factors influencing development outcomes. It will be of interest to researchers studying economic development, agricultural economists, businesses active in the primary sector and students of applied economic analysis.