Anthropology in Rural Development

Anthropological studies begin with study of rural (tribal) people round the globe in 18th century of Christian era. Rural development and social change remained a major concern of Anthropologists since the inception of this academic discipline. Anthropologists apply a holistic approach in understanding rural problems to suggest the development requirement of a particular community, village, or ethnic group. They assume that there is a connection between social relations, social organizations, and development.

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Research in rural development should open up to new theoreticmethodological trends. Complex thought proposes the fusion – in this case – of social and natural sciences, and thus studies in rural development lead to Eco-developme nt (ED). Until now, many investigations in rural research are applied to the agricultural and cattle sector (ACS), and they ignore the complex relations between human beings and the physical environment of which they are part, where the subjects of rural development live and produce, and with which they maintain, historically and traditionally, objective and subjective relationships that are relevant and transcendent. Once ED is accepted as complex thought, it becomes operative through methodological approaches in trans-discipl inarity –the fusion of diverse disciplines, such as Ecology and Sociology– and multidimensionality. With the last one, it is recognized that univocal approaches to reality are only partial, and its intention is to overcome this inconv.

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The project work focuses anthropologically on the actors (FAO, government, NGOs, international organizations) involved in the rural development project in Malawi since agricolture is a crucial sector for population.

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The Cambridge Handbook of Sociology

Rural sociology focuses on how rural people and communities are socially, culturally, politically, and economically organized. As a discipline, it has a distinct body of knowledge, specific research approaches, recognizable commitments and discourses, and its own set of institutional relationships. With a broad array of research questions, and often with a comparative perspective, rural sociologists consider how resource-based industries influence the social characteristics of rural communities. Rural sociology was first developed in the United States. While other countries have developed their own approaches to rural sociology, most have been influenced by American traditions. In contrast with general sociology's perspective that associates urban life with complex societies, rural sociologists assert that contemporary rural and urban communities are the products of modernity. Studying how changes in rural places are related to wider societal and economic processes, rural sociology has also had a tradition of applied and engaged scholarship. The broad focus of rural sociology leads to inclusion of concerns and insights from other disciplines, and it has led many rural sociologists to be interdisciplinary and to collaborate with scholars from other fields.

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