Search

Gabriele Zanetto and the postmodern. - This article discusses the relationship between Italian geographer Gabriele Zanetto and 'the postmodern". More specifically, it reflects on his writings directly addressing the postmodern by linking them to his intellectual profile and academic persona. The key argument is that Zanetto, at least in some crucial moments of his career, was faced with the challenges typical of every scholar preoccupied with the complex transition between the modern an the postmodern. What emerges is a scholarly and intellectual profile torn between the desire to go with the flow of the postmodern wave and its relativism, on the one hand, and the (modern) academic tendency to look for systematic classifications of the new trends, in geography and beyond. Zanetto's work has indeed engaged with the postmodern in some path breaking interventions where he disserts on the epochal shifts and the epistemological consequences of this paradigmatic change for the discipline, but also for the contemporary production and circulation of knowledge at large. The article ends by suggesting that some of these tensions reflect at the same time a radical in the ways in which understand geography as a discipline as well as some of the most original and fascinating characteristics of his academic personality, a personality that perhaps in the 'postmodern writings' has offered some of the most significant contribution to the field.

More and more it is recognised that innovation cannot be explained by a linear approach to innovation in which public sector agricultural research and extension delivers new technology in a pipeline configuration through a dissemination approach, but calls for systems approach in which innovation is the result of a process of networking, interactive learning and negotiation among a heterogeneous set of actors (Leeuwis, 2004; Röling, 2009). The systems approach recognises that agricultural innovation is not just about adopting new technologies; it also requires a balance amongst new technical practices and alternative ways of organising, for example, markets, labour, land tenure and distribution of benefits (Dormon et al., 2007). Recently, a blending of insights from the agricultural innovation literature and industrial innovation literature has resulted in the concept of agricultural innovation systems(Pant and Hambly-Odame, 2009; Röling, 2009). A national agricultural innovation system (AIS) is defined by World Bank (2006, pp.vi-vii) as ‘a network of organisations, enterprises, and individuals focused on bringing new products, new processes, and new forms of organisation into economic use, together with the institutions and policies that affect the way different agents interact, share, access, exchange and use knowledge’. Beyond researchers, extension agents and farmers, an AIS consists of all types of public, private and civil society actors, such as inputs and processing industry actors, agricultural traders, retailers, policymakers, consumers and NGOs. Besides stressing the fact that innovation requires involvement of many actors and effective interactions amongst these, the AIS approach recognises the influential role of institutions (i.e. laws, regulations, attitudes, habits, practices, incentives) in shaping how actors interact (World Bank, 2006). For AIS to function and enhance innovation capacity in developing countries’ agricultural sectors, the literature emphasises the need to come to shared visions, have well-established linkages and information flows amongst different public and private actors, conducive institutional incentives that enhance cooperation, adequate market, legislative and policy environments, and well-developed human capital (Spielman et al., 2008)However, creating and fostering effective linkages amongst heterogeneous sets of actors (i.e. the formation of adequate innovation configurations, coalitions, PPPs) is often hindered by different technological, social, economic and cultural divides (Pant and Hambly-Odame, 2006). From an innovation systems perspective, the importance of having intermediary organisations that sit between and connect different actors involved in innovation trajectories countries is becoming apparent. This type of intermediary should not just mediate a one-to-one relationship, but rather be a systemic intermediary, an in-between in a many-to-many relationship (Howells, 2006). These systemic intermediaries act as innovation brokers, whose main purpose is to build appropriate linkages in AIS and facilitate multi-stakeholder interaction in innovation. So far, the agricultural sector has relied mainly on public sector intermediaries such as agricultural extension services, often with questionable effectiveness and a limited mandate to play such a systemic intermediary role (Leeuwis, 2004; Rivera and Sulaiman, 2009). Innovation brokering implies moving beyond dissemination of information, as many ‘traditional’ extensionists do, but actively forge multi actor partnerships for innovation

Terra e lavoro: due questioni apparentemente dimenticate, di nuovo nell’agenda europea Questo articolo discute l’agricoltura contadina come la principale istituzione-lavoro in Europa. Si afferma che sia il lavoro sia la terra sono socialmente difniti. Essi sono materialmente costituiti sulla base di tali definizioni e, laddove le definizioni sociali mutano, il significato, l’uso e e la posizione della terra e del lavoro nel processo della produzione agricola vengono ricostituiti. L’articolo utilizza un una periodizzazione che abbraccia un primo periodo (dal 1850 al 1950) in cui l’agricoltura si sviluppa fortemente, sebbene a ritmi ineguali, in molte parti d’Europa. Un secondo periodo (circa tra il 1950 e il 1990) si fonda sulla modernizzazione dell’agricoltura: un tentativo di indurre un nuovo modello di agricoltura imprenditoriale in cui terra e lavoro divengono sempre più categorie vuote. Nel terzo periodo (dagli anni ’90 in poi) si osservano nuovi ed eterogenei processi di ri-contadinizzazione che implicano una “riscoperta” di terra e lavoro come componenti centrali di forme dell’agricoltura capaci di resistere al riordino neoliberale dei mercati dell’agricoltura e del cibo. Land and labour: two seemingly forgotten issues that are back on the European agenda. This article discusses peasant farming as the main land-labour institution in Europe. It is argued that both land and labour are socially defined. They are materially constituted according to these definitions and whenever social definitions change, the significance, use and position of land and labour in the process of agricultural production are reconstituted. The article uses a periodization that embraces a first period (from 1850 to 1950) in which peasant agriculture strongly develops , albeit at unequal rhythms, in most parts of Europe. A second period (roughly from 1950 to 1990) centres on the modernization of agriculture: an endeavour to induce a new model of entrepreneurial farming within which land and labour increasingly become void categories. The third period (from 1990 onwards) witnesses new and heterogeneous processes of re-peasantization that imply a ‘rediscovery’ of land and labour as central components of forms of farming that are able to resist the neo-liberal re-ordering of agricultural and food markets.

L’agricoltura cinese e fondamentalmente un’agricoltura contadina e la crescita del settore e un processo gestito dai contadini stessi, che l’hanno fatto principalmente attraverso l’intensificazione di lavoro. In questo testo gli autori discutono e spiegano i diversi meccanismi che giocano un ruolo nella notevole e recente crescita del settore agricolo cinese. Dati empirici sono stati raccolti in due villaggi di montagna della provincia di Hebei, dove il coinvolgimento multiplo in diverse attivita e attivamente utilizzato per rafforzare l’unita originale della produzione contadina.

More and more it is recognised that innovation cannot be explained by a linear approach to innovation in which public sector agricultural research and extension delivers new technology in a pipeline configuration through a dissemination approach, but calls for systems approach in which innovation is the result of a process of networking, interactive learning and negotiation among a heterogeneous set of actors (Leeuwis, 2004; Röling, 2009). The systems approach recognises that agricultural innovation is not just about adopting new technologies; it also requires a balance amongst new technical practices and alternative ways of organising, for example, markets, labour, land tenure and distribution of benefits (Dormon et al., 2007). Recently, a blending of insights from the agricultural innovation literature and industrial innovation literature has resulted in the concept of agricultural innovation systems(Pant and Hambly-Odame, 2009; Röling, 2009). A national agricultural innovation system (AIS) is defined by World Bank (2006, pp.vi-vii) as ‘a network of organisations, enterprises, and individuals focused on bringing new products, new processes, and new forms of organisation into economic use, together with the institutions and policies that affect the way different agents interact, share, access, exchange and use knowledge’. Beyond researchers, extension agents and farmers, an AIS consists of all types of public, private and civil society actors, such as inputs and processing industry actors, agricultural traders, retailers, policymakers, consumers and NGOs. Besides stressing the fact that innovation requires involvement of many actors and effective interactions amongst these, the AIS approach recognises the influential role of institutions (i.e. laws, regulations, attitudes, habits, practices, incentives) in shaping how actors interact (World Bank, 2006). For AIS to function and enhance innovation capacity in developing countries’ agricultural sectors, the literature emphasises the need to come to shared visions, have well-established linkages and information flows amongst different public and private actors, conducive institutional incentives that enhance cooperation, adequate market, legislative and policy environments, and well-developed human capital (Spielman et al., 2008)However, creating and fostering effective linkages amongst heterogeneous sets of actors (i.e. the formation of adequate innovation configurations, coalitions, PPPs) is often hindered by different technological, social, economic and cultural divides (Pant and Hambly-Odame, 2006). From an innovation systems perspective, the importance of having intermediary organisations that sit between and connect different actors involved in innovation trajectories countries is becoming apparent. This type of intermediary should not just mediate a one-to-one relationship, but rather be a systemic intermediary, an in-between in a many-to-many relationship (Howells, 2006). These systemic intermediaries act as innovation brokers, whose main purpose is to build appropriate linkages in AIS and facilitate multi-stakeholder interaction in innovation. So far, the agricultural sector has relied mainly on public sector intermediaries such as agricultural extension services, often with questionable effectiveness and a limited mandate to play such a systemic intermediary role (Leeuwis, 2004; Rivera and Sulaiman, 2009). Innovation brokering implies moving beyond dissemination of information, as many ‘traditional’ extensionists do, but actively forge multi actor partnerships for innovation

Il percorso per andare al lavoro, la scelta sul dove trascorrere le prossime vacanze, le nostre opinioni sulla politica estera, le nostre preoccupazioni per la crisi economica, le nostre affermazioni di identità, il nostro desiderio di fuga dal quotidiano, perfino la scelta di acquistare una casa in un luogo piuttosto che in un altro, tutti questi aspetti della nostra vita quotidiana hanno a che fare con il modo in cui interpretiamo e agiamo nel mondo. Breve manuale di geografia umana è un libro che tratta la geografia proprio come un modo specifico di pensare, di guardare, rappresentare e di agire sul mondo. In dialogo con il dibattito internazionale nelle scienze sociali il volume discute alcuni tra i più importati temi trattati dalla geografia contemporanea: il luogo, il paesaggio, la città, la regione, lo stato nazione, il globo, il consumo, il turismo, il patrimonio culturale e i metodi di ricerca adottati dai geografi oggi. Un valido compagno di viaggio per ogni studente di geografia

Il percorso per andare al lavoro, la scelta sul dove trascorrere le prossime vacanze, le nostre opinioni sulla politica estera, le nostre preoccupazioni per la crisi economica, le nostre affermazioni di identità, il nostro desiderio di fuga dal quotidiano, perfino la scelta di acquistare una casa in un luogo piuttosto che in un altro, tutti questi aspetti della nostra vita quotidiana hanno a che fare con il modo in cui interpretiamo e agiamo nel mondo. Breve manuale di geografia umana è un libro che tratta la geografia proprio come un modo specifico di pensare, di guardare, rappresentare e di agire sul mondo. In dialogo con il dibattito internazionale nelle scienze sociali il volume discute alcuni tra i più importati temi trattati dalla geografia contemporanea: il luogo, il paesaggio, la città, la regione, lo stato nazione, il globo, il consumo, il turismo, il patrimonio culturale e i metodi di ricerca adottati dai geografi oggi. Un valido compagno di viaggio per ogni studente di geografia