Developing Country Dependence

E. Ann Clark (ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca)
Wed, 4 Dec 1996 09:47:34 EDT

Folks: I received permission to forward this private message to the
net, as I think it may interest several of you who have written
separately to me. I have already gone over and gotten a book
recommended by someone else - Distorted Development by David Barkin -
which appears to present a thesis similar to one evident in another
posting I forwarded today from AGNET. The so-called "dependence"
theory is apparently too simplistic, and has been discounted. A
more encompassing theory based on the societal, entitlement, and
ecological implications of reconfiguring the agriculture of
developing countries to support export agriculture is supported by
Barkin - and by the other posting sent to you today. Ann

- - - - - - - Forwarded Message Follows - - - - - - -

Date sent: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 13:53:04 -0500 (EST)
To: ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
From: Elizabeth Barham <meb6@cornell.edu>
Subject: Developing Country Dependence

Ann,

I'm not sure whether you would consider the publisher to be left-of-center
(they probably are, overall), but a very enlightening book on the processes
that take place in a developing country context with the arrival of western
agribusinsess is the following:

Mackintosh, Maureen. 1989. _Gender, Class and Rural Transition:
Agribusiness and the Food Crisis in Senegal. London: Zed Books, Ltd.

The cover information states: "Competition for land and labour from
commercial export farming is generally held responsible for famine and the
African food crisis; but until now, this process has never been adequately
documented. This book shows how commercial estates can irreversibly
undermine local farming, reducing food production and creating permanent
dependence on waged labour. The author argues that this destruction can be
understood only if the notion of the household farming unit--so fondly held
by agricultural economists--is abandoned."

Other excellent sources for your question include the books edited by Philip
McMichael )_Food and Agrarian Orders in the World-Economy_, and _The Global
Restructuring of Agro-Food Systems_), and the book entitled: _From Columbus
to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food_, edited by
Alessandro Bonanno et al. One more of possible interest: _Free Markets &
Food Riots: The Politics of Global Adjustment_, a social movements study by
well-known social theorists in this area, John Walton and David Seddon,
published by Blackwell.

Hope you find these helpful.

Elizabeth Barham

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Elizabeth Barham Phone: 607-273-2762
Dept. of Rural Sociology Fax: 607-254-2896
133 Warren Hall Email: meb6@cornell.edu
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

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ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933