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Challenging the populist perspective: Rural people's knowledge, agricultural research, and extension practice

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  • John Thompson
  • Ian Scoones

Abstract

Recent trends in agricultural science have emphasized the need to make local people active participants in the research and development process. Working under the populist banner “Farmer First”, the focus has been on bridging gaps between development professionals and local people, pointing to the inadequate understanding of insiders' knowledge, practices, and processes by outsiders. The purpose of this paper is to expose the paradox of the prevailing populist conception of power and knowledge, and to challenge the simple notion that social processes follow straightforward and systemic patterns and can thus be manipulated with a transfer of power from outside to inside. The authors view “knowledge” as a social process and knowledge systems in terms of a multiplicity of actors and networks through which certain kinds of information are communicated and negotiated, and not as single, cohesive structures, stocks or stores. The guiding phrase is “the analysis of difference”, which suggests that knowledge is multilayered, fragmentary, and diffuse, not unitary and systematized. It emerges as a product of the interaction and dialogue between different actors and networks of actors with conflicting loyalties who negotiate over “truth” claims and battle over contrasting images and contesting interests. The paper challenges those promoting Farmer First approaches to reassess how people in different agroecological and sociocultural contexts make sense of and deal with constraining and enabling processes related to research and extension; how they attempt, through recourse to various discursive means, to enroll one another in their various endeavors; and how they use relations of power in their struggles to gain access to and control of social and political space. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1994

Suggested Citation

  • John Thompson & Ian Scoones, 1994. "Challenging the populist perspective: Rural people's knowledge, agricultural research, and extension practice," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 11(2), pages 58-76, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:11:y:1994:i:2:p:58-76
    DOI: 10.1007/BF01530446
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. John Thompson, 1996. "Moving the Indigenous Knowledge Debate Forward?," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 14(1), pages 105-112, March.
    2. Letty, Brigid & Shezi, Zanele & Mudhara, Maxwell, 2012. "An exploration of agricultural grassroots innovation in South Africa and implications for innovation indicator development," MERIT Working Papers 2012-023, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    3. David Meek & Katharine Bradley & Bruce Ferguson & Lesli Hoey & Helda Morales & Peter Rosset & Rebecca Tarlau, 2019. "Food sovereignty education across the Americas: multiple origins, converging movements," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(3), pages 611-626, September.
    4. Joanne Millar & Allan Curtis, 1999. "Challenging the boundaries of local and scientific knowledge in Australia: Opportunities for social learning in managing temperate upland pastures," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 16(4), pages 389-399, December.
    5. Brij Kothari, 2002. "Theoretical streams in Marginalized Peoples' Knowledge(s): Systems, asystems, and Subaltern Knowledge(s)," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 19(3), pages 225-237, September.
    6. Cock, James & Oberthür, Thomas & Isaacs, Camilo & Läderach, Peter Roman & Palma, Alberto & Carbonell, Javier & Victoria, Jorge & Watts, Geoff & Amaya, Alvaro & Collet, Laure & Lema, Germán & Anderson,, 2011. "Crop management based on field observations: Case studies in sugarcane and coffee," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 104(9), pages 755-769.
    7. Trent Brown, 2020. "Vocational Training, Extension, and the Changing Landscape of Agricultural Education in India," IEG Working Papers 407, Institute of Economic Growth.
    8. Ida Arff Tarjem & Ola Tveitereid Westengen & Poul Wisborg & Katharina Glaab, 2023. "“Whose demand?” The co-construction of markets, demand and gender in development-oriented crop breeding," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 83-100, March.
    9. Cook, Brian R. & Satizábal, Paula & Curnow, Jayne, 2021. "Humanising agricultural extension: A review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    10. James Sumberg & John Thompson & Philip Woodhouse, 2013. "Why agronomy in the developing world has become contentious," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(1), pages 71-83, March.
    11. Nathan Einbinder & Helda Morales & Mateo Mier y Terán Giménez Cacho & Bruce G. Ferguson & Miriam Aldasoro & Ronald Nigh, 2022. "Agroecology from the ground up: a critical analysis of sustainable soil management in the highlands of Guatemala," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(3), pages 979-996, September.
    12. Thompson, John, 1995. "Participatory approaches in government bureaucracies: Facilitating the process of institutional change," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 23(9), pages 1521-1554, September.
    13. Goulet, Frederic, 2017. "Explorer et partager. Les expériences de réduction des pesticides dans une revue professionnelle agricole," Économie rurale, French Society of Rural Economics (SFER Société Française d'Economie Rurale), vol. 359(May-June).
    14. Kouchner, Coline & Ferrus, Cécile & Blanchard, Samuel & Decourtye, Axel & Basso, Benjamin & Le Conte, Yves & Tchamitchian, Marc, 2019. "Bee farming system sustainability: An assessment framework in metropolitan France," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    15. Ramirez, Matias & Bernal, Paloma & Clarke, Ian & Hernandez, Ivan, 2018. "The role of social networks in the inclusion of small-scale producers in agri-food developing clusters," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 59-70.
    16. Oberthür, Thomas & Läderach, Peter & Posada, Huver & Fisher, Myles J. & Samper, Luis F. & Illera, Julia & Collet, Laure & Moreno, Edgar & Alarcón, Rodrigo & Villegas, Andres & Usma, Herman & Perez, Ca, 2011. "Regional relationships between inherent coffee quality and growing environment for denomination of origin labels in Nariño and Cauca, Colombia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(6), pages 783-794.
    17. Harvey S. James, 2023. "Agriculture and human values at 40 years: reflections on its scale and scope," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 25-30, March.
    18. Stephen Wetmore & Francois Theron, 1998. "Community development and research: Participatory learning and action -a development strategy in itself," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 29-54.
    19. Andrew Raedeke & J. Rikoon, 1997. "Temporal and spatial dimensions of knowledge: Implications for sustainable agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 14(2), pages 145-158, June.

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