(University of Oregon, 2021-04-27) Nikfarjam, Michelle; Wooten, Stephen
This thesis explores how the state-wide non-governmental organization (NGO), CECOEDECON, is using agroecology as a vehicle for promoting greater farmer sovereignty and preparing for negative impacts of climate change in Rajasthan, India. Based on three months of ethnographic research, I describe how a hybridization of peoples’ movements and NGOs are galvanizing development agendas that work to forge new paradigms for participation for farmers, revitalize and maintain cultural and livelihood practices and foster greater climate resiliency through ecological farming. Through my investigation, I draw attention to the ontological distance between food sovereignty and agroecology at the theoretical and policy levels and the complex, constrained reality of how they are being realized at the grassroots level. In doing so, I unearth the challenges and opportunities of agroecology as an effective strategy for addressing the needs of smallholder and tribal farmers operating in the rapidly evolving environmental, social and economic contexts of food production in Rajasthan.
