The Global Countryside
Seminar - UHON 301

Instructor(s): Marygold Walsh-Dilley

Course Description

For the first time in history, more of the world’s population lives in urban rather than rural settings. This fact, compounded by the industrialization, globalization, and digitization of society, has caused some to wonder about the continued relevance of rural places, peoples and debates. This class builds the argument that the rural sector remains key to understanding the dynamics within the contemporary global system, including in our growing cities, politics, and economies. We will develop a framework of relationality, outlining how rural and urban spaces are mutually constituted. Focusing on the Global North, this class provides an overview of the debates in rural studies, including from geography, sociology, history, anthropology, planning and other fields. This course seeks to convince you that the rural sector – and its people, places, and products – is more important than ever. The most pressing human-environment problems that we currently face – poverty and inequality, climate change, and political partisanship, among others – necessitate attention to the transformations taking place in rural spaces.

Texts

We will read from Michael Woods Rural, Jennifer Sherman Dividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American Dream and from a variety of other academic and public texts compiled in a course reader. We will also watch several films in class, including “The Man Who Tried to Feed the World”.

Requirements

1) Students will collect digital and cultural artifacts, which we will use to develop a working model of rurality in class.
2) Students will explore emerging themes in set of short, guided mid-term essays completed in class.
3) Students will select a topic of their choice to explore in greater focus in a final project, which will include the opportunity for research outside of class materials.
4) Students will be expected to complete reading and participate in class discussions and activities.

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About the Instructor(s): Marygold Walsh-Dilley

Marygold Walsh-Dilley holds a PhD in Development Sociology, an MS degree in Applied Economics, and a BA degree in International Studies. Her research focuses on agrarian transitions, rural development, and food and agricultural systems in Andean South America and the North American Southwest. She is an Associate Professor in Geography & Environmental Studies.