Funded MA: Youth & Farming

Funding is available for one student to undertake a two-year MA in Sociology or Public Issues in Anthropology (with the option of the collaborative International Development Studies program) and to undertake research on a topic related to young farmers in one or more of the four countries (Canada, China, India and Indonesia) under the aegis of the research project Becoming a young farmer: Young people's pathways into farming, at the University of Guelph.

The global phenomenon of an ageing farming population, poor returns on farming in the current economic paradigm and an apparent lack of interest among youth in agrarian and rural futures have attracted considerable attention among policy makers and researchers. At the same time, what is overlooked is that not all young people leave farming and the countryside, and some urban youth establish themselves as first-generation urban or rural farmers. By studying young people's pathways into farming futures we aim to fill an important void in current work on rural youth and agrarian studies and in policies related to rural poverty reduction and employment generation. First, the research studies will go beyond documenting the various barriers that keep young people from establishing agrarian futures to examining how at least some young people manage to overcome these. Second, they will assess the working of intergenerational dynamics underpinning trajectories into farming, ranging from inheritance to the intergenerational transfer of knowledge. Third, they will shed light on generational innovation in farming practices across the globe. Gender will be treated as a key relation of social differentiation shaping all three areas of inquiry. 

A competitive funding package (including a minimum guaranteed stipend, TAships, RAships and field research funding) is available for the right student. Fluency in the local language, prior field experience and familiarity with mixed methods of data collection and analysis are desirable. 

Those interested should please email a CV, a 250 word research design, sample writing, three reference letters, and an unofficial transcript to: Dr. Sharada Srinivasan by 09 December 2016. Short-listed applicants will be interviewed by Skype by the end of December 2016. Admission is subject to the approval of the relevant graduate admissions committee(s).