Call for papers and session proposals

The call for papers and sessions is now open.

Paper  proposals

Proposals may be made by all rural historians, including independent scholars and doctoral students, who are in sympathy with the aims of the conference. Papers should represent the best in current research. Whilst many will address local or regional issues, we are especially interested in papers which address international issues, or national issues in a comparative context. Papers may also be submitted which outline new methodological approaches or documentary sources.

Submissions should be made in the form of a short abstract of the paper (150-200 words) and a short cv of the applicant of about the same length. Please do not send extended abstracts or full length cvs.

Closing date

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE CLOSING DATE FOR PAPERS AND SESSIONS WILL NOW BE 11 JANUARY 2010.

Making a proposal

Proposals should sent by email to Professor Richard Hoyle at r.w.hoyle@reading.ac.uk.

Invitations to contribute to sessions

The following session proposals have been made.  Please contact the relevant  lead person below directly if you wish to be considered for the sessions

Peasant diaries, autobiographies, recollections between the late 19th century and mid-20th century.

Peasant diaries in continental Europe reflect the highly differentiated local patterns of traditional faming life and methods. They also tell us a great deal about the mobilization of rural population and its penetration by market forces as well as the constantly expanding demands of state agencies. All leave their marks on the pages of these diaries and recollections.

How do peasant diaries reflect the changing scope of the world, which a peasant farmer experiences? In what ways will the economic and farming changes be contrasted with the more stable ideal picture of a peasant family economy? Is it possible to systematically compare the diaries and recollections according to the time, the circumstances of its author in which it has been produced, the economic and social characteristics of the author and furthermore also to compare them over time and space, arriving at an international and inter-temporal mosaic?

I has to be acknowledged, that this is not the first major attempt to tread this path of research – Northern German and Danish researchers had a major network running which looked at these issues between the late eighties and 2005 when it petered out. My surmise is, that it had a fate which it did not deserve, for if adequate frameworks can be found for systematic comparisons, there would be further potential in this type of source and research.

I suggest that each participant should be trying to engage explicitly in interregional and inter-temporal comparisons.

Interested participants should contact András Vári (h7506var@ella.hu).

Rural cooperatives (credit, consumer, marketing, dairy) as vehicles of social and economic integration – or basis of segregation (1870s - 1930s)

Co-operatives are by definition tools for building institutional networks and ways and forms of joining larger integrations. But building a network may at the same time be a decision against participating in larger economic integration, therefore it may be a step towards rejecting this larger integration. This has been usually studied, if at all, at the level of the ideologues of the co-operative movements, or, even worse, taking the views of the different political ideologies as a starting point. Yet the question: ‘Who do I trust, who do I work with?’ – was of obvious relevance and it was a question that had to be answered daily. It was also a question where cultural preferences were inextricably linked with economics and farming practices – trust and cooperation meant a very different thing in a consumer co-operative than in a dairy co-op.

There is evident need here for a more complex view of co-operatives, which would combine the contemporary technical and economical determinants of co-ops with consideration of differing cultural and political contexts in which they operated. Only in such a complex field of determinants would it be adequate and worth while to look at different, rival mobilization efforts of rural elites and mobilization paths of rural people.

Since this is a very complex issue, which has not really been looked at, I think a paper does best if it concentrates on one particular setting, exploring the dynamics of integration and disintegration, with special regard to the interplay of farming practice and cultural preference – though comparisons are welcome.

Interested participants should contact András Vári (h7506var@ella.hu).

The history of animal husbandry

Proposal from Professor Janken Myrdal and Jesper Larsson

Animal husbandry practice ranges from nomadism to year round stabling and include herds of various sizes and animal composition. Animal husbandry had social, economic and cultural implications on individuals, communities  and society. We call for papers from all disciplines dealing with animal husbandry.

A session on Dynamics in land use and animal husbandry in Sweden will also be held in this theme.

Theme chair: Professor Janken Myrdal

 Interested participants should contact Jesper.Larsson@ekon.slu.se

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