Dear colleagues
The European countryside has been both an inexhaustible source for raw materials and labour force in the industrial development and also the source of values and feelings, adopted and constructed by various political ideologies and movements. Through centuries socio-economic structure and social movements in the countryside have had an impact on and formulated the ideological and political life of European nation-states. Such a connection is widely accepted as far as long term historical processes are concerned, but its implications for today's Europe seem to be more or less forgotten. This is the basic reason for our attempt to launch a debate around the topic 'actors in the European countryside in transition.'
A variety of concrete and actual questions are of concern under this topic. It also opens connections, however, to wider questions, such as (1) what is the role of agrarian structures and rural social forces in societal development, (2) is there one (or several) special way (ways) through modernity in non-core European countries (compare Nordic Welfare model) (3) in what way the history of countryside impacts upon today's transition in post-socialist countries.
Shortly, we consider it is of great importance to discuss and analyse actual European changes both in historical and comparative perspective. To be more concrete, after socialism some basic actors ar e withdrawing from the countryside, the state and collective farms primarily. It is an open question, who will be occupying this space: former agricultural workers, multinational corporations, political forces, .... In Western countries state bureaucracy is partly replaced by a project machinery, individuals adopt new reflexivity as consumers or entrepreneurs, values as well as markets are `gree ning' after the half a century long dominance of productionist agriculture.
We are calling for contributions following this context. A small working seminar will be arranged in Hungary in October 2-5, 1997. Contributions to this seminar should have sense of historical development but most of them might concentrate on the 1990's. Regions of interest will be Central and Eastern post-socialist Europe, Northern Europe (including Ireland and Scotland) and the Mediterranean. The papers should concentrate on actors in certain country(ies) or region(s). The following aspects should be concerned in the papers:
(1) relation betwien rural people and the state
social structure of the rural society in historical context* definition of the category 'peasant', the social status of the peasantry in different regions (peasants and/or farmers)
marketisation and depeasantisation
agricultural policy, rural policy, social policy (European Union): 'europeanization', globalization, local revival
rural political mobilisation, parties and social movements
local communities and the central government(2) land and landscape
ideas about land in different ideologies, adopted by political movements, their institutionalisation in redistributive measures
productivism and/or environmentalism and land* `social spatialisation' of the land - landscapes and interpretations (3) rurality
rural problems: claims-making processes, presenting, and contesting claims; social scientists as claims-makers
`the new' and `the old' countryside
national identity and rurality: symbols, meanings, and interpretations (4) time
consequences of history for future development
regional models on how history impacts upon present and future
If you have an interest to keep in touch with us, please indicate this interest by e-mail to <leo.granberg@helsinki.fi> or <mszt@mailhost.mtapti.hu> or by mail no later than June 30, 1997.