Reflexive biotechnology development


Book Description

Agriculture plays a crucial role in the alleviation of extreme poverty and hunger. Development of new crop varieties that are more resistant to disease and pests, and that produce more in dry conditions or on poor soils, can contribute to agricultural development. However, while the technical potential to improve crop varieties is increasing rapidly, such technologies do not always successfully contribute to the economic development of resource poor farmers. New technologies may never reach farmers, may be prohibitively expensive, or may solve only a very limited part of the problem that farmers are facing in practice. This book engages with the debate on how modern genetic technologies are used in plant breeding, and questions what it is that makes a new technology appropriate for pro-poor agricultural development. It does so by moving beyond a technical perspective on what constitutes 'appropriate technology' and by analyzing how different approaches to agro-technological development create different social roles for technology developers and farmers in innovation processes and production systems. Case studies of projects and international research centres in India, Peru and Mexico provide an insight in the different approaches to agro-technological development in which farmers are treated as 'recipients of technology', or are involved as 'co-innovators', and in which technology developers present themselves as 'solution providers' or as 'service providers'. Insight in those different approaches contributes to a clearer debate on the potential role of biotechnology in agricultural development and the reduction of poverty.







Participatory Research


Book Description




Collaborative Approaches to Evaluation


Book Description

Outlining the principles J. Bradley Cousins and colleagues developed to guide collaborative approaches in evaluation, this text provides case studies for how these principles have then been applied in practice.




Critical Medical Anthropology


Book Description

Critical Medical Anthropology presents inspiring work from scholars doing and engaging with ethnographic research in or from Latin America, addressing themes that are central to contemporary Critical Medical Anthropology (CMA). This includes issues of inequality, embodiment of history, indigeneity, non-communicable diseases, gendered violence, migration, substance abuse, reproductive politics and judicialisation, as these relate to health. The collection of ethnographically informed research, including original theoretical contributions, reconsiders the broader relevance of CMA perspectives for addressing current global healthcare challenges from and of Latin America. It includes work spanning four countries in Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala and Peru) as well as the trans-migratory contexts they connect and are defined by. By drawing on diverse social practices, it addresses challenges of central relevance to medical anthropology and global health, including reproduction and maternal health, sex work, rare and chronic diseases, the pharmaceutical industry and questions of agency, political economy, identity, ethnicity, and human rights.




Transition to Agro-Ecology


Book Description

Our global agricultural and food system is broken and needs to transition to one that is more sustainable and beneficial to the worlds population. This seems hard in the face of the linked challenges of climate change, natural resource depletion, and worldwide economic and social upheaval. At the same time, farmer-led social movements are growing, and there is increasing recognition that agroecology and food sovereignty are key solutions for both nutritious food security and climate change adaptation. This book takes you along in the transition to agroecology, which is already happening, worldwide! The author shows us the as of yet dispersed but growing movement of many smallholder farmers, projects, programs, research, and policy agendas that are making the change. Since the daily news prevents us from noticing, Jelleke shows us the most beautiful and intriguing examples of ground-breaking people and projects. She gives you the keys for transition. She makes us look back from 2030. What have we done by thenyou and I, your friends and colleagues, investors and politiciansto have arrived in a changed food-secure world where agroecology is the new normal? This book is a must-read for researchers, politicians, students, and consumers alike.




Learning from Change


Book Description

Learning from Change provides an overview of the common themes and experiences in participatory approaches to monitoring and evaluation across different institutions and sectors. It is a compilation of selected case studies and discussions between practitioners, academics, donors, and policymakers in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). It explores conceptual, methodological, institutional, and policy issues that need to be addressed to enrich our understanding and practice of PM&E. The book is in three sections. The first provides a general overview of PM&E, synthesizing literature surveys and regional reviews of PM&E practice around the world. The second presents case studies that illustrate the diverse range of settings and contexts in which PM&E is being applied. The third raises the key issues and challenges arising from the case studies and discussions, and proposes areas for future research and action. Learning from Change will be an important reference for development professionals worldwide as well as for anyone interested in the process of participatory development, including researchers, academics, fieldworkers, development practitioners, and policymakers.




Children, Spaces and Identity


Book Description

How do children construct, negotiate and organize space? The study of social space in any human group is fraught with limitations, and to these we must add the further limits involved in the study of childhood. Here specialists from archaeology, history, literature, architecture, didactics, museology and anthropology build a body of theoretical and methodological approaches about how space is articulated and organized around children and how this disposition affects the creation and maintenance of social identities. Children are considered as the main actors in historic dynamics of social change, from prehistory to the present day. Notions on space, childhood and the construction of both the individual and the group identity of children are considered as a prelude to papers that focus on analyzing and identifying the spaces which contribute to the construction of children’s identity during their lives: the places they live, learn, socialize and play. A final section deals with these same aspects, but focuses on funerary contexts, in which children may lose their capacity to influence events, as it is adults who establish burial strategies and practices. In each case authors ask questions such as: how do adults construct spaces for children? How do children manage their own spaces? How do people (adults and children) build (invisible and/or physical) boundaries and spaces?




Communication: Innovation & Quality


Book Description

This book explores the disruptive changes in the media ecosystem caused by convergence and digitization, and analyses innovation processes in content production, distribution and commercialisation. It has been edited by Professors Miguel Túñez-López (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain), Valentín-Alejandro Martínez-Fernández (Universidade da Coruña, Spain), Xosé López-García (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain), Xosé Rúas-Araújo (Universidade de Vigo, Spain) and Francisco Campos-Freire (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain). The book includes contributions from European and American experts, who offer their views on the audiovisual sector, journalism and cyberjournalism, corporate and institutional communication, and education. It particularly highlights the role of new technologies, the Internet and social media, including the ethics and legal dimensions. With 30 contributions, grouped into diverse chapters, on information preferences and uses in journalism, as well as public audiovisual policies in the European Union, related to governance, funding, accountability, innovation, quality and public service, it provides a reliable media resource and presents lines of future development.