Recent activities, winter 2018

As the winter term of the 2017 - 2018 academic session gets underway, things will be busy. I will be teaching two courses in the fall term at Trent University: Human inequality in global perspective - issues, for the first time, and Peasants, Food and Agrarian Change. However, the fieldwork that I undertook in the summer and fall of 2017 will require that I finalize four reports for the United Nations Poverty-Environment Initiative Africa, on the drivers of gender gaps in agricultural productivity in Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. As part of that work, I will launch the published versions of the reports just as the term comes to an end, in Addis Ababa, Lilongwe, Dar es Salaam and Kampala. It is also probable that fieldwork in Ethiopia will begin. At the same time, I will be undertaking an assignment for the Ho Chi Minh Political Academy in Hanoi, on gender and economics, and this will take me to Hanoi late in the term.

If that was not enough, I already have two speaking engagements lined up. One will take me back to Berlin in February, and my ongoing relationship with GLOCON at the Free University. The second will take me back to my former place of employment, the International Institute of Social Studies, in March. I will also, most likely, be speaking at the annual conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics, and at the annual conference of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development.

Work will commence in earnest on a new book, of which I am co-editor: The Elgar Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies. This was due to start last year, but issues with my co-editors slowed things down. Several pieces that I have written will be published, and several more that are in peer review will be finalized.

Of course, work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies is ongoing, as is work as Associate Editor of Feminist Economics.

At the same time, I am pretty sure that over the course of the next few months something new will come up; it always does. So the winter of 2018 looks, as ever, to be crowded.

Recent activities, fall 2017

As the 2017 - 2018 academic session gets underway, things will be busy. As usual, I will be teaching two courses in the fall term at Trent University: Human inequality in global perspective - introduction, and The world food system. However, the fieldwork that I undertook in the summer of 2017 will require that I draft and finalize two reports for the United Nations Poverty-Environment Initiative Africa, on the drivers of gender gaps in agricultural productivity in Uganda and Tanzania. As part of that work, I will also undertake fieldwork in Malawi in October, writing a report that must be completed by the end of the year. Work will also conclude on reports on the gender gap in agricultural productivity in Ethiopia and Rwanda. If that was not enough, I will lead the annual PhD School of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development in September in Ottawa, and in November I will speak to the National Convention of the National Farmer's Union. Work will commence on a new book, of which I am co-editor: The Elgar Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies. Several pieces that I have written will be published, and several more that are in peer review will be finalized. Finally, I have been fairly heavily involved in the development of the women's economic empowerment section of the forthcoming United Nations Development Programme Global Gender Strategy 2018 - 2021; this will require some travel as well. Of course, work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies is ongoing, as is work as Associate Editor of Feminist Economics.

At the same time, I am pretty sure that over the course of the next few months something new will come up; it always does. So the fall of 2017 looks, as ever, to be crowded.

Recent activities, winter and spring 2017

During the winter of 2017 I will take only my second (half-)sabbatical in 30 years of teaching. During my sabbatical I plan to work on my next book, Feast or Famine? Can Small Farmers Feed the World? I will do some of that work at China Agricultural University in Beijing, and some of it at the Free University in Berlin. I will also undertake a program review of the International Development Program at the University of Waterloo, and will act as external examiner for doctoral dissertations at the universities of Toronto and New South Wales. If all goes according to plan, I will do some work for UN Women in Ethiopia and Rwanda on the costs of gender inequality in farming in both countries. Of course, work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies is ongoing, as is work as Associate Editor of Feminist Economics. If I am very fortunate, I might even be able to squeeze in some writing time in Tuscany.

Recent activities, fall 2016

As we get going into the 2016 -17 academic year, it will be very busy. In addition to my normal teaching at Trent University, which includes IDST 1001H, Human inequality in global perspective and IDST - SAFS - ANTH - GEOG - SOCI 2500H, The world food system, I will be acting as an internal examiner on a Trent University cultural studies PhD dissertation in early October -- the first time I have examined a cultural studies doctoral dissertation. In October I will travel once more to Uganda, to undertake advisory services on engendering agricultural and rural development policies and programmes in the forthcoming national budget. In November I will travel to the South Asian University in Delhi, to deliver a keynote address at a conference, and in December I will travel to the Free University in Berlin to also deliver a keynote address. From that point on, I will start my half-sabbatical; only the second one that I have had in 30 years of teaching. During my sabbatical I plan to work on my next book, Feast or Famine? Can Small Farmers Feed the World? I will do some of that work at China Agricultural University in Beijing, and some of it at the Free University in Berlin.  Of course, work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies is ongoing, as is work as Associate Editor of Feminist Economics.

Recent activities, spring 2016

With the 2015 - 2016 academic year coming to an end, my work schedule will accelerate. Following a quality assurance review of the Department of Economics at Brandon University, I will travel to China for the first time in over 20 years to deliver a talk at the College of Agriculture in Beijing. This will be followed by a keynote address at the end of April, delivered to the Waterloo Food Issues Group. I then travel to Uganda, to undertake advisory services for UN Women on a portfolio of agricultural development projects designed to empower women. In June I will attend the annual conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics in Galway, Ireland, where I will deliver a paper and chair a panel. In July I have two conferences: one, at Wageningen University, on the Political Ecologies of Conflict, Capitalism and Contestation; and one at Durham University, the annual conference of the World-Ecology Network. In August I will attend the International Rural Sociology Association Congress, where I will deliver a paper. I will also be working on two invited book chapters, on the agrarian question and human inequality and on rural livelihoods. At some point I will begin to prepare my fall teaching at Trent University.Of course, work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies is ongoing, as is work as Associate Editor of Feminist Economics.

It promises to be an exceptionally busy spring and summer.

Recent activities, fall 2015

I am already three weeks into the 2015 - 2016 academic year, and things have been happening very quickly these past few weeks. I have started my fall term teaching at the University while also attending to the myriad details that have to be completed at the start of the year by chairs of departments at Trent University. While this has taken up the majority of my time, this weekend I will head to Halifax to offer comments on two papers being delivered at an international workshop entitled "Can genetically modified crops help the poor". At the same time I am working on a slightly overdue book review for the Journal of Peasant Studies and working on evaluating a number of papers that I collated for panels at the annual conference of the International Association for Feminist Economics in Berlin in July, to see whether these are publishable.  Of course, work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies is ongoing. Finally, there is a strong possibility that I will once more be heading for Uganda in late October to do more work for UN Women on engendering economic policy.

Fall is always busy.

Recent activities, spring / summer 2015

With the 2014 - 2015 academic year at an end, I now move into a very busy late spring / early summer. Having just returned from almost 4 weeks in east Asia, where I delivered workshops to the Vietnam Women's Union and the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, on behalf of UN Women, in a few days I head to Uganda to do some work for the Ministry of Finance on engendering economic policy. In between, I delivered a seminar at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, which was very well received indeed, and there is a PhD defence at the University of Western Ontario. I will, as usual, be attending the annual meetings of the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development and the Canadian Consortium of University Programs in International Development Studies.

In terms of research, I am trying to finish up a draft chapter for the second edition of the textbook Critical Food Studies, as well as a review article for the Journal of Agrarian Change on peasant resistance in Afghanistan over the last 40 years. Work as Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Development Studies will, of course, be ongoing.

While the spring and summer are quieter times for me in my role as Chair of the Department of International Development Studies, while I enter my last year as Chair there will be continuing responsibilities. Moreover, I will be preparing my fall term courses. This will be done with one eye on the mid-July Summer School of the University of Manitoba's Institute for Geopolitical Economy, where I will be teaching over 3 days.

I am, however, especially looking forward to Convocation on 3 June, when I will receive Trent University's Distinguished Research Award.

Other things will come up: they always do.