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Message from the Agrarian & Environmental Studies (AES) Team
Thank you for your interest in the Agrarian and Environmental Studies (AES) at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS). Whether you are a prospective MA or PhD student, post-doctoral fellow or research collaborator, through this short note we would like to give you an overview of who we are, what we do, what we offer.
Agrarian and Environmental Studies at ISS is an intellectually vibrant international hub of cutting edge research and world-class graduate teaching in the field of critical agrarian studies and critical environmental studies, within the tradition of `engaged scholarship`: academic work that has social relevance. We therefore privilege approaches and initiatives that aim to contribute to constructing bridges between the academic world, the development policy community, as well as NGO and social movement activist circles. Critical scholarship is at the heart of AES. `Critical`, for us does not mean ‘negative’, but looking ‘beyond the surface’, in two specific ways: First to look beyond and critically interrogate mainstream policy prescriptions and orthodoxy and their alternatives. Second, to, in this way, help build alternative ideas, support networks and movements towards a socially just, more equal and environmentally sustainable world.
Aside from carrying out cutting edge research and world-class graduate teaching, what makes the AES Team an exciting group include: (a) the very international character of its staff, currently with American, British, Canadian, Chilean, Chinese, Cyprian, Dutch, Filipino, Malaysian, and Surinamese nationals (with even more in the extended teaching team); (b) formal training from various disciplines: anthropology, development studies, economics, environmental studies, geography, politics, and sociology, allowing for a truly inter-disciplinary research and teaching; (c) the geographic spread of research work and academic, policy and NGO networks which encompass all regions of the world, across the global North-South, and East-West divides. It is not surprising therefore that year after year we attract students coming from various parts of the world, making the very international character of the student community a feature that is not commonly found in other universities and institutes offering graduate studies in international development.
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Allow us to elaborate a little further.
AES offers an interdisciplinary approach – combining political economy, political ecology, and political sociology – to understanding and confronting the impacts of global capitalist development on agrarian structures and environmental systems. The focus of the AES Major is on the social, political and economic dynamics of rural and agrarian change and environmental degradation, seen from a wider perspective of rural and rural-urban links, and across the Global South-North divides to include emerging international actors in agro-environmental terrain. We carefully study the rise of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as well as by some powerful MICs (middle income countries) such as Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Malaysia, and others – and their implications for agrarian and environmental transformations worldwide as well as on global governance issues on agrarian and environmental themes such as those linked to food and climate change issues. The collective research profile of AES staff as briefly outlined above places the AES Team in a strategic position to carry out leading research initiatives in, and graduate teaching about, these processes that seek to reshape the political economy and ecology of the world and the way we understand such processes and their longer term implications.
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The AES core team members are among the leading scholars in the fields of critical agrarian studies and critical environment studies. They are members of the editorial advisory board of several major academic journals in the field (for example: Prof Spoor in the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Peasant Studies). In addition, the AES enjoys a rare convergence of editors of key journals in the field, in turn ensuring that AES is at the forefront of knowledge production and dissemination. Dr. Büscher is one of the editors of Conservation and Society. Dr. Arsel is one of the editors of Development and Change (Prof White was the Chair of its Editorial Board for many years), Prof Kay is one of the editors of Journal of Agrarian Change, and Dr. Borras is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Peasant Studies.
In addition, there are three AES in-house international book series edited by AES staff. (a) the Routledge-ISS Rural Livelihoods Book Series (Series editors: H. Akram Lodhi, S. Borras, C. Kay and M. Spoor), (b) Agrarian Change and Peasant Studies Book Series with Kumarian Press and Fernwood Publishing for the English edition (Series editors: S. Borras, M. Spoor and H. Veltmeyer, plus Ye Jingzhong of China Agricultural University Beijing, Raul Delgado Wise, Autonomous University of Zacatecas in Mexico, Bernardo Mancano Fernandes of UNESP in Brazil, and Laksmi Savitri of Sajogyo Institute in Indonesia in charge of various non-English editions), and (c) the Routledge Critical Agrarian Studies Book Series (Series Editor: S. Borras).
Building on a rich tradition of research, there are several major research projects that are currently carried out by AES staff. A few examples are: the NEBE research project funded by the Dutch Scientific Research Council NWO led by Dr. Arsel and Dr. Pellegrini, a Veni research grant by Dr. Büscher on nature conservation and social media entitled ‘Nature 2.0’ funded by the Dutch Scientific Research Council NWO, Land grabbing in Indonesia and the Philippines involving Prof. White and Dr. Borras, with the University of Amsterdam (Dr. Rosanne Rutten and Dr. Gerben Nooteboom) funded by NWO, Biofuels and land-use change by Dr. Hunsberger with Dr. Borras, funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, SSHRC, Land grabbing and the rise of BRICS by Dr. Wang Chunyu with Dr. Borras, funded by China Scholarship Council, land grabbing in former Soviet Eurasia by Prof Spoor and Dr. Visser (Radboud University), and land and rural livelihoods of peasants in Xinjiang, China, funded by the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) by Prof. Spoor and Dr. Arsel.
In relation to their research work and graduate teaching, AES staff host and coordinate three international scholarly networks, namely: (a) the Centre for the Study of Transition and Development (CESTRAD) coordinated by Prof Spoor that specializes in the study of agrarian and environmental issues transition economies especially the formers Soviet Union, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, China and Vietnam; (b) The Initiatives in Critical Agrarian Studies (ICAS) coordinated by Dr. Borras that brings together engaged academics, development policy experts as well as NGO and social movement activists in a common space for productive encounter; and (c) The Land Deal Politics Initiatives (LDPI) globally co-coordinated by Prof. White, Dr. Borras, Prof Ian Scoones (IDS Sussex), Dr. Ruth Hall (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, South Africa) and Wendy Wolford (Cornel University).
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Furthermore, two exciting regular colloquium series are organized by AES staff. These colloquia bring together academics, policy experts and social movement activists: (a)The Critical Agrarian Studies Colloquium is jointly organized by ICAS, Land Deal Politics Initiatives (LDPI), Inter-Church Organization for Development Cooperation (ICCO) and the Transnational Institute (TNI). This Colloquium is a long entire day event, packed with contributions by leading international academics, top development experts and key public intellectuals. Previous speakers include: Henry Bernstein, Tania Li, Ian Scoones, Philip McMichael, Olivier de Schutter, IFAD`s Vice President Kevin Cleaver, Camila Toulmin, Frances Moore Lappe, Miguel Altieri and Eric Holt-Gimenez. (b) The Critical Environmental Studies Colloquium is a series of half day exciting events, currently focusing on a critical perspective on the `Green Economy` narrative, and jointly organised by AES, the Dutch non-governmental development agency HIVOS and the Society for International Development (SID) Netherlands chapter. Previous speakers include leading scholars such as Joan Martinez-Alier and Ken Macdonald. These colloquia have been very popular among academics, policy experts, donor agencies and activists Europe-wide – providing a fascinating and productive space for encounter and networking, between participants, and between participants and AES students. These have been integrated into the AES courses.
Moreover, AES staff played important role in organizing major international conferences that sought to stretch the boundaries of how we understand particular global burning issues. In June 2011, a conference entitled ‘Nature Inc: question the market panacea in environmental policy and conservation’. gathered over 250 scholars, policy-makers and activists working on critical environmental studies, while AES staff co-organized the international academic conference on global land grabbing held in IDS Sussex in April 2011 and are co-organizing a follow up conference to be held in Cornell University in New York in October 2012.
Altogether, these initiatives and projects make AES a vibrant, creative and leading international academic hub that offers excellent graduate teaching and carries out cutting edge research in a truly international context and character.
After completing a Major in AES, participants will have a systematic and firm grasp of the key, competing analytical tools relevant to understanding processes of agrarian and environmental transformations. Whether they go back to their previous jobs, or chart new career paths, in the academia, government ministry, international development institutions, NGO, social movements, or indeed private companies, they will emerge rigorously and professionally prepared – and globally competitive – after completing their MA in AES.
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Whether you are a university lecturer, NGO professional, social movement activist, government ministry official or indeed, fresh from your undergraduate studies, from the global South and North, if you are interested in some of the most critical and important global burning issues confronting humanity today - food and energy crises, climate change and environmental degradation, justice and conservation, land grabbing and biofuels, , agrarian justice movements, land and conflict, resource conflict, mining and other extractive industries, rural-urban inequalities, rural poverty, food justice movements, emerging popular policies such as REDD+, carbon trading, emerging initiatives around popular initiatives such as food sovereignty and agroecology – AES will be an internationally cutting edge and exciting place for you, whether you are interested in our MA or PhD programme as student (or a prospective MA student eyeing to continue immediately to a PhD programme), or in our research initiatives as a research collaborator.
There are various scholarships available for MA and PhD students, especially for applicants coming from the global South. Please refer to the appropriate homepage in the ISS website. For applicants coming from Europe, North America, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, there are some limited partial scholarships available too (please refer to the appropriate ISS homepage). The MA programme timeframe is 15.5 months – but there are possible flexible arrangements for the length of time of your actual stay in The Hague. For this, please contact AES academic staff. For prospective PhD applicants who may come from the global South or North, we have a new flexible programme. For this, please contact an AES staff member whose research interest is closest to what you plan to do for your research.
For further information, please feel free to get in touch with any of us!
Sincerely,
The AES Team –
Dr. Murat Arsel, Sharmini Bisessar, Dr. Jun Borras, Dr. Bram Büscher, Dr. Carol Hunsberger, Prof. Cris Kay, Nalini Harnam, Dr. Ingrid Nelson, Prof. Max Spoor, Dr. Chunyu Wang, and Prof. Ben White
