Rurality, Livelihood and Gender

About this programme

This course is for you that want to learn more about an overview of the food security and social security situation of rural livelihoods, partly drawing on gender analysis. The course elaborates on the interrelations between rural and urban, farm and non-farm strategies in building household livelihoods. The focus is on low-income countries and marginal areas of production and livelihoods, particularly regions in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that are affected by poverty. The course addresses the interconnections between rural development, gender and technology, institutions, food security, social security and poverty. Students will learn how to describe and critically discuss, amongst others, dominant policies and programmes in rural development, people’s motivations and livelihood strategies and gender and development theory. Knowledge equivalent to 180 credits, including 90 credits within a particular major within humanities, social or natural sciences. Knowledge equivalent to English 6 (Swedish educational system). In this course we will explore what it means for a place to be rural, what rural development seeks to accomplish, and who gets to decide the future of rural societies. Within this, we will ask questions about what constitutes a decent and sustainable livelihood, and how feminist perspectives can inform our understanding of rural gender inequalities (as well as other social inequalities and structures of power). This course also serves as something of an introduction to graduate level academic writing. The aim is to provide you with opportunities and resour