The Emancipatory Rural Politics Initiative (ERPI) focuses on understanding the rise of ‘authoritarian populism’ in rural settings across the world, as well as the forms of resistance occurring and the alternatives being built. New exclusionary politics are generating deepening inequalities, jobless ‘growth’, climate chaos, and social division. The ERPI is focused on the social and political processes in rural spaces that are generating alternatives to regressive, authoritarian politics.
In debating these themes, this international conference contributed to ERPI’s aim to provoke debate and action among scholars, activists, practitioners and policymakers from across the world who are concerned about the current situation, and hopeful about alternatives.
The Twitter hashtag #ERPI2018 was used for online discussion around the conference.
About the conference
Plenary speakers included: Burak Gürel (Koç University) Laksmi Adriani Savitri (Samadhya Institute) Eduardo Gudynas (Latin American Center of Social Ecology) Natalia Mamonova (The Institute of International Affairs, Sweden) Andries du Toit (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape) Zack Exley (Justice Democrats/Left Right Forward) Achin Vanaik (Transnational Institute) Dzodzi Tsikata (University of Ghana) Khin Zaw Win (Tampadipa Institute) Rebecca Tarlau (Pennsylvania State University) John Gaventa (Institute of Development Studies) Stha Yeni (Tshintsha Amakhaya) Sofia Monsalve (FIAN International) Karin Nansen (REDES/Friends of the Earth Uruguay) Raj Patel (University of Texas at Austin) Hilary Wainwright (Red Pepper) Marc Edelman (City University of New York) Henry Saragih (Serikat Petani Indonesia/La Via Campesina)
Articles
Articles by speakers and organisers on the online magazine openDemocracy explore the issues around the conference.
Confronting authoritarian populism: the rural dimension / Enfrentarse al populismo autoritario: la dimensión rural
Ian Scoones, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Lyda Fernanda Forero, Ruth Hall, Marc Edelman, Wendy Wolford, and Benjamin White 29 January 2018
Hindu authoritarianism and agrarian distress Achin Vanaik 5 February 2018
Why #DefendAfrin? Confronting authoritarian populism with radical democracy Amber Huff, Salima Tasdemir, and Patrick Huff 12 February 2018
Sacrifice zones in rural and non-metro USA: fertile soil for authoritarian populism Marc Edelman 19 February 2018
Islamophobia gastronomica – on the food police, rural populism and killing Raj Patel 26 February 2018
Authoritarian elitism and popular movements in Brazil / Élites autoritarias y movimientos populares en Brasil Wendy Wolford and Sergio Sauer 5 March 2018
The demise of emancipatory peasant politics? Indonesian fascism and the rise of Islamic populism Laksmi Savitri, Devi Adriyanti, Hanny Wijaya, Ciptaningrat Larastiti, Abdul Rahman, and Benjamin White 9 March 2018
How populism directed against minorities is used to prop up Myanmar’s ‘Democratic’ revival Khin Zaw Win 12 March 2018
After the peace agreement, authoritarian extractivism persists as rural development in Colombia Lyda Fernanda Forero and Danilo Urrea 14 March 2018
State, corporate and chiefly power is being contested from below in South Africa Ruth Hall 14 March 2018
Cambridge Analytica hacked our social lives to win elections – but more is at stake than votes Nathan Oxley 23 March 2018
Ongoing conversations: realising an emancipatory rural politics in the face of authoritarian populism Ian Scoones 24 March 2018
Blog posts
Confronting authoritarian populism: building collaborations for emancipatory rural resistance Sergio Coronado, 23 March 2018 (ISS Blog)
Military muscle and populist promises: authoritarian populism in southern Africa Ian Scoones, 26 March 2018 (Zimbabweland Blog)
Conference papers
In preparation for the conference, the organisers compiled a number of papers and essays submitted by researchers and scholars across the globe.
- Conference papers: Asia-Pacific
- Conference papers: Europe
- Conference papers: Americas
- Conference papers: Americas (2)
- Conference papers: Africa
- Conference papers: International
Multimedia story
View selected tweets, images and links from the conference (Wakelet.com)
Multimedia story: view selected tweets, images and links from the conference (Wakelet.com)
Key contacts
