Papers by Gerard Verschoor
Berghahn Books, Dec 31, 2022
Environmental Communication and Community, 2016
Journal of Rural Studies, 2022
Mexico committed to liberalizing its trade under the terms set by NAFTA and the WTO, yet it is al... more Mexico committed to liberalizing its trade under the terms set by NAFTA and the WTO, yet it is also obliged to protect its exceptional biodiversity. This is especially delicate as it is closely linked to cultural diversity and the survival of poor campesino and indigenous groups. The unfortunate introduction of GMOS into the country occurred through imported maize, a product that appears to be the apple of discord in the discussion on biotechnology. For Mexicans, non-economic factors make the origin and quality of maize extremely important, even more so than costs and prices. If Mexico is unable to find new strategies of survival that are also environmentally sustainable for the countryside, the guardians of the genetic diversity of maize - the still numerous rural subsistence farmers - will end up as undocumented immigrants in the USA. This study discusses the possibility to have one sole food policy that responds to the interests of the sectors linked to technological knowledge as...
Resonances and Dissonances in Development contains analyses that engage with the actor-oriented a... more Resonances and Dissonances in Development contains analyses that engage with the actor-oriented approach as elaborated by Norman Long. The book is a festschrift to mark his retirement as Professor of Rural Development Sociology at Wageningen University. The title of the book echoes the tensions and contradictions that arise from the increasingly complex entanglements in which social actors find themselves in as they struggle to achieve sustainable livelihoods. The contributors to this volume - both academics and practitioners - engage with these complex imbroglios by combining solid academic analysis and sympathising critique to add, each in his or her own idiosyncratic way, to the legacy of Wageningen Sociology and Anthropology. The book is divided in three sections. The first part illustrates how an actor approach resonates in such dissimilar fields as legal anthropology, rural sociology, technology and agrarian development, communication and innovation studies, and irrigation and water engineering. The second part shows the many faces an actor-oriented approach may acquire as it articulates with different bodies of thought. Finally, the last part exemplifies how development practice may be positively informed by an actor-oriented approach.
This book aims at both academics and professionals in the field of forest-people interfaces. It t... more This book aims at both academics and professionals in the field of forest-people interfaces. It takes the reader on a journey through four major themes that have emerged since the initiation of 'social forestry' in the 1970s: non-timber forest products and agroforestry; community-based natural resource management; biocultural diversity; and forest governance. In so doing, the books offers a comprehensive and current review on social issues related to forests that other, more specialized publications, lack. It is also theory-rich, offering both mainstream and critical perspectives, and presents up-to-date empirical materials. Reviewing these four major research themes, the main conclusion of the book is that naive optimism associated with forest-people interfaces should be tempered. The chapters show that economic development, political empowerment and environmental aims are not easily integrated. Hence local landscapes and communities are not as 'makeable' as is often assumed. Events that take place on other scales might intervene; local communities might not implement policies locally; and governance practices might empower governments more than communities. This all shows that we should go beyond community-based ideas and ideals, and look at practices on the ground.
Neoliberalism, industrial reconstruction and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) incr... more Neoliberalism, industrial reconstruction and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) increasingly dictate the character and the agenda of Mexico's economic policy in the 1990s. Recognizing the importance and potential of the small firm sector within this framework, the Salinas and Zedillo Administrations have strongly supported economic activities once labelled as 'informal' or belonging to the 'black market'. Despite strong support, however, there is a great dearth in studies that address the phenomenon of accelerated expansion of the small-scale enterprise sector. The present article examines this problematic from a flexible specialization perspective. Against an historical background, the author offers an account of the expansion of mezcal production by small-scale enterprises clustered in a micro region of the State of Jalisco. The central argument is that the relative success of the mezcal sector can be understood through the concepts of 'cluster...
Mundo Amazónico, 2012
Construyendo Cadenas de valor inCluyentes: una ComparaCión de dos Casos de bioComerCio en suramér... more Construyendo Cadenas de valor inCluyentes: una ComparaCión de dos Casos de bioComerCio en suramériCa Resumen Este artículo analiza la configuración de redes de innovación en dos casos de cadenas de valor de biocomercio en Suramérica: producción de salsas de ajíes con frutas amazónicas en Colombia y producción de perfumes en Brasil a partir de aceites esenciales provenientes de Ecuador. Por medio de la integración de dos perspectivas teóricas, los autores resaltan tanto los aspectos económicos como socioculturales que influencian la configuración de estas redes. Esto permite considerar las tensiones, sinergias y contradicciones entre las lógicas del mercado y las prácticas, significados y valores socioculturales locales. Sacando lecciones aprendidas de los estudios de caso, el artículo contribuye a la discusión teórica sobre cómo las cadenas de valor (incluyentes) son social y económicamente construidas, y cómo su desempeño está relacionado con las redes de innovación.
Sociedad y Ambiente
Analizamos el efecto que el régimen socioambiental predominante en un Área Natural Protegida tien... more Analizamos el efecto que el régimen socioambiental predominante en un Área Natural Protegida tiene sobre la gobernanza y sobre la reproducción económica de los grupos domésticos rurales de dos ejidos en la Reserva de la Biósfera La Sepultura (REBISE), Chiapas. Desarrollamos una investigación transdisciplinaria mediante el esquema conceptual de los Sistemas Territoriales Campesinos (SITCA). Esta incluyó talleres familiares sobre modos de vida, juegos de roles y entrevistas participativas con actores clave. Los resultados indican que la gobernanza ambiental de la REBISE ha tenido tres momentos de transición, y que el régimen socioambiental no ha propiciado el desarrollo territorial, ni la articulación de los actores locales para alcanzar el desarrollo sustentable. La participación de los grupos domésticos rurales podría desempeñar un papel fundamental en el diseño de procesos de gobernanza ambiental más eficientes, ya que éstos desarrollan una estrategia de vida multiactiva, aprovecha...
Mundo Amazónico, 2012
Este articulo analiza la configuracion de redes de innovacion en dos casos de cadenas de valor de... more Este articulo analiza la configuracion de redes de innovacion en dos casos de cadenas de valor de biocomercio en Suramerica: produccion de salsas de ajies con frutas amazonicas en Colombia y produccion de perfumes en Brasil a partir de aceites esenciales provenientes de Ecuador. Por medio de la integracion de dos perspectivas teoricas, los autores resaltan tanto los aspectos economicos como socioculturales que influencian la configuracion de estas redes. Esto permite considerar las tensiones, sinergias y contradicciones entre las logicas del mercado y las practicas, significados y valores socioculturales locales. Sacando lecciones aprendidas de los estudios de caso, el articulo contribuye a la discusion teorica sobre como las cadenas de valor (incluyentes) son social y economicamente construidas, y como su desempeno esta relacionado con las redes de innovacion.
In the early 1980s development theory found itself at the crossroads of modernisation perspective... more In the early 1980s development theory found itself at the crossroads of modernisation perspectives and more radical approaches. This created a theoretical imbroglio to which David Booth once referred to as the 'impasse' of development theory (Booth, 1985, 1994; Schuurman, 1993). The impasse applied to development sociology and anthropology, and this was as much the case in Wageningen as in many other sociology/anthropology departments in the world where this field is taught. In his valedictory address in 1980, Norman Long's predecessor, Rudi van Lier, summed up what had 'gone wrong' but he was unable to show how to go beyond the impasse and to develop an alternative approach to understanding development processes. Van Lier spoke of 'praxeology' (van Lier, 1979) and 'of a synthesising science of reality, which indicates the structural framework within which economic activities are possible'' (van Lier, 1980: 18). He maintained in a way that dev...
Food, Agriculture and Social Change
This article describes and analyzes the effects of artisanal mining on the food security of the c... more This article describes and analyzes the effects of artisanal mining on the food security of the community of Andoque del Resguardo Aduche in the Colombian Amazon. In analytical terms, the departure point for this analysis is on the different perspectives regarding the activities of the indigenous populations. Some of these activities –those which are based on the notion of “scarcity”– distort the social life of the indigenous communities. This creates a dilemma which conflicts with the concept of “abundance” in
Regoverning Markets is a multi-partner collaborative research programme analysing the growing con... more Regoverning Markets is a multi-partner collaborative research programme analysing the growing concentration in the processing and retail sectors of national and regional agrifood systems and its impacts on rural livelihoods and communities in middle-and low-income countries. The aim of the programme is to provide strategic advice and guidance to the public sector, agrifood chain actors, civil society organizations and development agencies on approaches that can anticipate and manage the impacts of the dynamic changes in local and regional markets. Innovative Practice is a series of country case studies from the Regoverning Markets programme providing examples of specific innovation in connecting small-scale producers with dynamic markets at local or regional level. Based on significant fieldwork activities, the studies focus on four drivers of innovation: public policy principles, private business models, collective action strategies by small-scale farmers, and intervention strategies and methods of development agencies. The studies highlight policy lessons and working methods to guide public and private actors.
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Papers by Gerard Verschoor