IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/eurjdr/v33y2021i1d10.1057_s41287-020-00302-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Farming, Gender and Aspirations Across Young People’s Life Course: Attempting to Keep Things Open While Becoming a Farmer

Author

Listed:
  • Roy Huijsmans

    (Erasmus University)

  • Aprilia Ambarwati

    (AKATIGA Center for Social Analysis)

  • Charina Chazali

    (AKATIGA Center for Social Analysis)

  • M. Vijayabaskar

    (Madras Institute of Development Studies)

Abstract

Drawing on life history interviews conducted in Indian and Indonesian study sites, we tease out the social production of aspirations in the process of becoming a farmer. We show the power of a doxic logic in which schooling is regarded as the pathway out of farming, towards a future of non-manual, salaried employment. Among rural youth this doxic logic produces broadly defined aspiration such as ‘completing education’, and ‘getting a job’. In the absence of clear pathways to realise such aspirations, young people seek to keep options open. Yet, the scope for doing so changes in relation to key life events such as ending school, migration and marriage and does so in distinctly gendered ways. We conclude proposing that young people’s delayed entrance into farming, among other things, must be understood as an attempt to keep open those futures that are considered closed by an early entry into full-time farming.

Suggested Citation

  • Roy Huijsmans & Aprilia Ambarwati & Charina Chazali & M. Vijayabaskar, 2021. "Farming, Gender and Aspirations Across Young People’s Life Course: Attempting to Keep Things Open While Becoming a Farmer," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(1), pages 71-88, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00302-y
    DOI: 10.1057/s41287-020-00302-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41287-020-00302-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41287-020-00302-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Karuna Morarji, 2014. "Subjects of Development: Teachers, Parents and Youth Negotiating Education in Rural North India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 26(2), pages 175-189, April.
    2. Ben White, 2021. "Human Capital Theory and the Defectology of Aspirations in Policy Research on Rural Youth," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(1), pages 54-70, February.
    3. Willy Sier, 2021. "The Price of Aspirations: Education Migrants’ Pursuit of Higher Education in Hubei Province, China," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(1), pages 16-34, February.
    4. Felix Kwame Yeboah & Thomas S. Jayne, 2018. "Africa’s Evolving Employment Trends," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(5), pages 803-832, May.
    5. Yeboah, F. Kwame & Jayne, T.S., 2016. "Africa’s Evolving Employment Structure," Food Security International Development Working Papers 246956, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    6. Ole Johannes Kaland, 2021. "“We Have Many Options, But They are All Bad Options!”: Aspirations Among Internal Migrant Youths in Shanghai, China," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(1), pages 35-53, February.
    7. Lidewyde Berckmoes & Ben White, 2014. "Youth, Farming and Precarity in Rural Burundi," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 26(2), pages 190-203, April.
    8. Getnet Tadele & Asrat Ayalew Gella, 2012. "‘A Last Resort and Often Not an Option at All’: Farming and Young People in Ethiopia," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(6), pages 33-43, November.
    9. Rigg, Jonathan, 2006. "Land, farming, livelihoods, and poverty: Rethinking the links in the Rural South," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 180-202, January.
    10. Christine Okali & James Sumberg, 2012. "Quick Money and Power: Tomatoes and Livelihood Building in Rural Brong Ahafo, Ghana," IDS Bulletin, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(6), pages 44-57, November.
    11. Grace Muthoni Mwaura, 2017. "Just Farming? Neoliberal Subjectivities and Agricultural Livelihoods among Educated Youth in Kenya," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(6), pages 1310-1335, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Arulingam, Indika & Brady, G. & Chaya, M. & Conti, M. & Kgomotso, P. K. & Korzenszky, A. & Njie, D. & Schroth, G. & Suhardiman, Diana, 2022. "Small-scale producers in sustainable agrifood systems transformation," IWMI Reports 329171, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Federica Consentino & Gabriella Vindigni & Daniela Spina & Clara Monaco & Iuri Peri, 2023. "An Agricultural Career through the Lens of Young People," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Arulingam, Indika & Brady, G. & Chaya, M. & Conti, M. & Kgomotso, P. K. & Korzenszky, A. & Njie, D. & Schroth, G. & Suhardiman, Diana, 2022. "Small-scale producers in sustainable agrifood systems transformation," IWMI Books, Reports H051435, International Water Management Institute.
    4. Frederick Amon-Armah & Nana Akua Anyidoho & Isaac Alvin Amoah & Sander Muilerman, 2023. "A Typology of Young Cocoa Farmers: Attitudes, Motivations and Aspirations," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(4), pages 770-793, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Moreda, Tsegaye, 2023. "The social dynamics of access to land, livelihoods and the rural youth in an era of rapid rural change: Evidence from Ethiopia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    2. Mastewal Yami & Shiferaw Feleke & Tahirou Abdoulaye & Arega D. Alene & Zoumana Bamba & Victor Manyong, 2019. "African Rural Youth Engagement in Agribusiness: Achievements, Limitations, and Lessons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, January.
    3. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2021. "Empowerment of Rural Young People in Informal Farm Entrepreneurship: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities," Working Papers 21/033, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    4. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2021. "Empowerment of Rural Young People in Informal Farm Entrepreneurship: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/033, African Governance and Development Institute..
    5. Trent Brown, 2020. "Pathways to Agricultural Skill Development in the Indian Himalayas," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 15(2), pages 270-292, August.
    6. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi, 2021. "Empowerment of Rural Young People in Informal Farm Entrepreneurship: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility in Nigeria’s Oil Producing Communities," Research Africa Network Working Papers 21/033, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    7. James Sumberg & Thomas Yeboah & Justin Flynn & Nana Akua Anyidoho, 2017. "Young people’s perspectives on farming in Ghana: a Q study," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(1), pages 151-161, February.
    8. Grace Muthoni Mwaura, 2017. "Just Farming? Neoliberal Subjectivities and Agricultural Livelihoods among Educated Youth in Kenya," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(6), pages 1310-1335, November.
    9. Cynthia J. Mkong & Tahirou Abdoulaye & Paul Martin Dontsop-Nguezet & Zoumana Bamba & Victor Manyong & Godlove Shu, 2021. "Determinant of University Students’ Choices and Preferences of Agricultural Sub-Sector Engagement in Cameroon," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-18, June.
    10. Kafle, Kashi & Paliwal, Neha & Benfica, Rui, 2021. "Do Youth Work in Agriculture? Short-Term Dynamics of on-Farm Youth Employment in Tanzania and Malawi," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315043, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    11. Andreas Backhaus & Elke Loichinger, 2022. "Female Labor Force Participation in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Cohort Analysis," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(2), pages 379-411, June.
    12. Ghebru, Hosaena & Amare, Mulubrhan & Mavrotas, George & Ogunniyi, Adebayo, 2018. "Role of land access in youth migration and youth employment decisions: Empirical evidence from rural Nigeria," NSSP working papers 58, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. James Sumberg & Nana Akua Anyidoho & Michael Chasukwa & Blessings Chinsinga & Jennifer Leavy & Getnet Tadele & Stephen Whitfield & Joseph Yaro, 2014. "Young People, Agriculture, and Employment in Rural Africa," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-080, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Pierre Boulanger & Hasan Dudu & Emanuele Ferrari & Alfredo Mainar Causape & Federica Angelucci & Renata Baborska & Thibault Meilland, 2018. "Allocations budgétaires optimales et options de réformes pour le secteur agricole dans le Plan Sénégal Emergent 2019-2023," JRC Research Reports JRC113242, Joint Research Centre.
    15. Frederick Amon-Armah & Nana Akua Anyidoho & Isaac Alvin Amoah & Sander Muilerman, 2023. "A Typology of Young Cocoa Farmers: Attitudes, Motivations and Aspirations," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 35(4), pages 770-793, August.
    16. Jordan Chamberlin & Cristina Ramos & Kibrom Abay, 2021. "Do more Vibrant Rural Areas have Lower Rates of Youth Out-Migration? Evidence from Zambia," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(4), pages 951-979, August.
    17. Chamberlin, Jordan & Jayne, T.S., 2020. "Does farm structure affect rural household incomes? Evidence from Tanzania," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    18. James Sumberg & Louise Fox & Justin Flynn & Philip Mader & Marjoke Oosterom, 2021. "Africa’s “youth employment” crisis is actually a “missing jobs” crisis," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 39(4), pages 621-643, July.
    19. Ravi Nandi & Swamikannu Nedumaran, 2021. "Understanding the Aspirations of Farming Communities in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review of the Literature," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(4), pages 809-832, August.
    20. Marco Carreras & James Sumberg & Amrita Saha, 2021. "Work and Rural Livelihoods: The Micro Dynamics of Africa’s ‘Youth Employment Crisis’," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(6), pages 1666-1694, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:eurjdr:v:33:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1057_s41287-020-00302-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.