Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology: Call for Contributions

Call for Contributions:

XXII"d Congress of the European Society for Rural Sociology; Wageningen, 20-24

August 2007, Mobilities, Vulnerabilities and Sustainabilities: New questions and

challenges for rural' Europe

Working group 2: "'Negotiating sustainabilities - reshaping the sciences-rural society

relationships through transdisciplinary research and collective learning processes"

Convenor: Dr. Stephan Rist, National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR)

North-South, Centre for Development and Environment (CDE), Bern, Switzerland

Starting point are present internal and external transformations within and outside rural

spaces relating to the paradoxities of modernity in rural spaces: Due to

industrialization, urbanization and globalization of food production the historically grown

centrality of rural Europe is nowadays definitively transformed into marginality. The

manifold attempts to 'modernise' rural spaces and life through the application of

scientifically validated knowledge that has been operationalised through policies

related to rural development has -contradictorily - not led to reconnect the 'lagging

behind' rural societies with modernity. This 'development betrayed' (Noorgaard, 1994)

led to a reorientation of rural actors and their urban alliances which instead of aiming at

further perfectionising unsustainable pathways of rural development, started to

mobilize social and cultural capitals e.g. expressed in the manifold new social

movements related to organic agriculture, rural tourism, non-capitalist 'new' uroral

economies, defence of local autonomy, areas free of GMO's or communities declaring

themselves free of GATT.

In this process the science-rural society relationship is undergoing profound

transformations too. Conventional approaches of science-based rural development

instead of being the only 'true source' of knowledge is increasingly recognised as part

of the problem. Consequently the actors of rural societies are increasingly

emancipating from the science, expert and top-down policy makers. This gives new

and more space for the revitalization and further development of 'local forms of

knowledge' and ways of validation based an endogenous views of men, society and

nature. Transdisciplinary science aims to relate to these tendencies by radically

changing its attitudes, epistemologies and methodologies: Instead of representing the

'objective source' of knowledge transdisciplinarity understands itself as an external

resource for the enhancement of endogenous development aiming to support the

creation of new and broader spaces for collective learning processes within and

outside of the new rural social movements that aim for regaining agency in

'development from within'. As a consequence, scientific knowledge production is

replaced by a societal co-production of knowledge.

The shift from conventional to transdisciplinary approaches of co-production of

knowledge cannot be made by the scientific community alone. It can only be made in

close dialogue and cooperation with other related non-scientific actors and an the

basis of an intra- and interontological dialogue between different actors representing

different forms of knowledge. This can be conceived of as a collective learning process

aiming to reshape the present science-rural society relationships. The work group

would therefore focus an the following: discussion of experiences and pathways for

reshaping present science-rural society; relationships considering the principles of

sustainable development, vulnerability and mobility; analysis of internally and externally

enabling and hindering factors related to the emergence of collective learning

processes through transdisciplinary research and action

Offers of papers, including a title and abstract (maximum 300-400 words) should be

sent by email to;, Stephan Rist at stephan.rist@cde.unibe.ch by 15 November 2006.