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Palgrave Macmillan

Exemplary Agriculture

Independent Organic Farming in Contemporary China

  • Book
  • © 2019

Overview

Authors:
  1. Sacha Cody

    1. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

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  • Historicises the Chinese agricultural system within land reform movements, rural reform movements, and ecological consciousness in China
  • Uses interdisciplinary techniques to add context and depth to an understanding of the new Chinese consumer
  • Provides an account of how contemporary Chinese politicians resolve social tensions within a hybrid economy

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
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  2. Introduction

    • Sacha Cody
    Pages 1-24

  3. Conclusion

    • Sacha Cody
    Pages 237-251

  4. Class Relations and Exemplarity

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25
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    2. China’s Urban/Rural Dichotomy

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 27-45

    3. Exemplarity

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 47-64

    4. Shanghai’s Independent Organic Farmers

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 65-99

    5. Intellectuals

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 101-121

  5. Exemplary Agriculture in the Countryside and the City

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 123-123
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    2. The Farm

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 125-150

    3. The Volunteer

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 151-179

    4. The Product

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 181-205

    5. The Customer

      • Sacha Cody
      Pages 207-235

  6. Back Matter

    Pages 253-260
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Keywords

About this book

This book is an important contribution to our understanding of food in China through an ethnographic case study of an alternative food movement in Shanghai and the surrounding countryside. Cody examines a group of middle-class urban residents who move to the countryside to establish small-scale and independent organic farms. The book explores the complex relationships movement protagonists have with customers in the city, rural neighbours in the countryside, volunteers on their farms, intellectuals involved in rural reconstruction initiatives as well as the organic items they produce. In doing so, Cody provides valuable insights into the urban/rural dichotomy and questions of morality in China today. This book speaks to several concerns associated with the accelerated modernization China and other Asian nations are experiencing, including food safety and class relations. It will appeal to scholars and practitioners across a range of fields including anthropology, food studies, rural development and China Studies.

Reviews

“This book will be of great interest to everyone interested in China's recent agricultural history and the future of sustainable food production in the developing world.  The author has done first-hand ethnographic research on a wide variety of topics: labor relations, commodity production, pricing, consumption, organic movements, and the ever-changing nature of state regulation. Cody's book thus constitutes a foundation for all future work in this field.” (James L. Watson, Fairbank Professor of Chinese Society and Professor of Anthropology Emeritus, Harvard University, USA)

“This is a timely and brilliant ethnography for the studies of foodways, and the case in Shanghai sheds light on the emergence of independent organic farming worldwide and in relation to food movements in many Asian societies in particular. (Sidney C. H. Cheung, Professor, Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

“In this groundbreaking study of China's emerging organic movement, Cody paints vivid portraits of Shanghai's new organic farmers and their multi-facetted relationships to customers, volunteers, intellectual activists, rural and urban society, and the party-state. It is an exemplary ethnography of contemporary China and an important contribution to the Anthropology of Food and Food Studies.” (Jakob Klein, Chair of the SOAS Food Studies Centre and co-editor of The Handbook of Food and Anthropology, London)

 

 

Authors and Affiliations

  • The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China

    Sacha Cody

About the author

Sacha Cody, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. An Australian, he has lived in China for 15 years. His research is published in Asian Anthropology, Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies and The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Exemplary Agriculture

  • Book Subtitle: Independent Organic Farming in Contemporary China

  • Authors: Sacha Cody

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3795-6

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore

  • eBook Packages: Social Sciences, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-981-13-3794-9Published: 06 March 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-981-13-3795-6Published: 25 February 2019

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 260

  • Number of Illustrations: 16 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Social Anthropology, Agricultural Economics, Asian Politics

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