Overview

It has increasingly been recognised that rural and urban areas are inextricably interlinked. This book adopts a fresh approach to the issue of rural-urban dynamics through a study of the changing nature of livelihoods, mobility and markets in ten study sites across four countries of Africa and Asia. Building on detailed fieldwork conducted in Ghana, Tanzania, Vietnam and Thailand, the authors explore how settlements and livelihoods are being transformed as long-term inhabitants and recent migrants embrace new economic activities many of which are linked to global markets. The book is structured around the concept of ‘frontier’ which is conceptualized as being a dynamic space where the forces of economic, demographic and social change are brought to bear. The study sites include agricultural frontiers (coffee, cocoa, pineapples and fresh fruit), handicraft and manufacturing frontiers, and mining frontiers (gold and diamonds). In all of the cases, global value chain dynamics have played a pivotal role in shaping local livelihoods. Some settlements are developing into new urban centres whilst others are suffering from a boom and bust experience due to the unreliability of export markets. The similarities and differences between the frontier settlements are drawn out by comparing frontiers of similar types and by highlighting the theoretical and policy implications of the findings from all the frontier types. The originality of the book lies in its combination of conceptual clarity, methodological coherence and empirical richness. By combining detailed empirical findings with theoretical insight from debates on livelihoods, global value chains, mobility patterns, settlement dynamics and rural-urban relations, the book sheds new light on these issues within an overall framework of development trajectories in Africa and Asia. Given scholars’ and international agencies’ current interest in the spatial dimensions of economic development, this contribution is particularly timely with its fresh geographical approach to development issues; this book is a pertinent and authoritative read for anyone researching or learning in the field of development.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jytte Agergaard (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) ,  Niels Fold (University of Copenhagen, Denmark) ,  Katherine Gough (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.40cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.476kg
ISBN:  

9780415475624

ISBN 10:   0415475627
Pages:   212
Publication Date:   07 September 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

1. Introduction (Jytte Agergaard, Niels Fold and Katherine V. Gough) 2. Conceptualizing and Performing Comparison of Rural-urban Dynamics (Gough, Agergaard, Fold and Lasse Møller-Jensen) 3. Small Town Development in the Ghanaian Cocoa Frontier (Michael Helt Knudsen) 4. Living From Coffee in Vietnam’s Central Highlands: Susceptible Livelihoods and Diverse Settlement Transformation (Agergaard) 5. Rise and Fall of Smallholder Pineapple Production in Ghana: Changing Global Markets, Livelihoods and Settlement Growth (Gough and Fold) 6. Transforming Livelihoods and Settlements: Fruit Production and Urbanization in Vitenam’s Mekong Delta (Xuan Thanh Hoang and Cecilia Tacoli) 7. Agricultural Frontier Settlements: Markets, Livelihood Diversification and Small Town Development (Fold and Tacoli) 8. Handicrafts in Vietnam: Rural Urbanization in the Red River Delta (Gough and Dang Nguyen Anh) 9. A Revolution in the Thai Handicraft Industry? Handicrafts, Integration and Rural Development in Northern Thailand (Jonathan Rigg, Suriya Veeravongs, Piyawadee Rohitarachoon and Lalida Veeravongs) 10. From Farm to Factory: Village Change in a Rice Growing Region (Rigg, Veeravongs, Rohitarachoon and Veeravongs) 11. Handicraft and Manufacturing Frontier: Transforming Livelihoods, Re-shaping Settlements (Gough and Rigg) 12. Rural Urban Transitions in Tanzania’s Northwest Mining Frontier (Deborah Fahy Bryceson and Rosemarie Mwaipopo) 13. The Dynamics of the Gold Mining Industry and its Effects on Settlements and Livelihoods in Wassa West District, Ghana (Yankson) 14. Frontier Mining Settlements: Livelihood Promises and Predicaments (Bryceson and Yankson) 15. Conclusion (Fold, Gough and Agergaard)

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