A Case Study of the Rural Space in Post-Sturcturalist Geography: “Action of the Smallholder Farming Rehabilitation In Rulakes”
Date Issued
2012
Date
2012
Author(s)
Hsu, Chao-Wei
Abstract
At the end of 2009, the NGOs and Rulakes residents have cooperated “ The Smallholder Farming Rehabilitation Project,” which aims at the economic transition within local sphere. In the project, under the condition that the organizations provided the economic support as well as the cooperation of social relations, residents who participated the project began to adjust their conventional farming methods and economic forms. Through the negotiation and integration between organizations and participants, they autonomously coordinated the mode of production and the arrangement of resources, in attempting to farm through “local” methods, and thus to try to reach the local-cooperative economy. On the other hand, the action critically responds to the highly market-oriented and modernized conditions that cause the social and environmental crisis of the rural while the development, by taking actual practices.
Although the project was initially launched in Jinfeng Township, Taitung County, the actions were not restricted according to territorial boundaries. The participants who engaged in the project progressively integrated into closely interactive relationship. The relations of production and commodity were reshaped due to the social network that was constructed through performance of actions. In the process, negotiations and interactions between the acting subjects, which involved the formation of consensus between participants, were constantly on the move. In addition, the heterogeneous associations between actors and the land, the crop as well as the natural environment were coming into being during the farming process. The actions of “The Smallholder Farming Rehabilitation” is now continuing to proceed in Rulakes. Furthermore, the relational practices of the action have been shaping by multiple social networks.
Among the above observations and analysis, the action could be argued as the certain kind of discourse that effects of the action are diffused through social networks. This paper takes the post-strutralist geography approach to investigate the rural issues, which refers to the rural that is not merely existed as the “actual space,” but is spacialized according to the process of negotiations and the practices between actors. In the case of “The Smallholder Farming Rehabilitation” in Rulakes, this paper attempts to conceptualize the spatial process of the rural. Moreover, this paper also re-inspected the action itself, by evaluating the content and the effect of the action after actual practices. In spite of occurring some concrete problems during the process, the action opens up the possibilities of practices of the smallholder economy.
Subjects
Rulakes
smallholder farming rehabilitation
space process
relational practice
SDGs
Type
thesis
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