Book Shelf

Abingdon, Routledge, 2010, ISBN 9780415376488, 256pp
 

The redistribution of land has profound implications for women and for gender relations; however, gender issues have been marginalised from both theoretical and policy discussions of agrarian reform. This book presents an overview of gender and agrarian reform experiences globally. It highlights case studies from Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe and also compares agrarian and land reforms organised along collective lines as well as along individual household lines.
 

Agustin, Laura Maria
Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
London and New York, Zed Books, 2008, ISBN:978-1-84277-860-9, 248 pp
The author critiques the stereotyped view that migrant sex workers are passive and disempowered, arguing that the label ‘trafficked’ does not accurately describe migrants’ lives and that the ‘rescue industry’ disempowers them. Based on extensive research among migrants who sell sex and social helpers, this book suggests that migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry and that although they are treated as a marginalised group, they form part of the dynamic global economy.

Jefferson NC, McFarland & Co.Inc., 2009, ISBN 9780786445196, 224pp
 

Through the lens of gendered aid intervention, this book seeks to understand how the promise of freedom has largely fallen short – for both men and women in Afghanistan. Topics include the tenuous relationship between social indicators and aid dynamics; the advancing of the gender agenda through Afghanistan’s 2005 parliamentary elections; and the journey from policy formulation to interpretation to implementation through the voices of policy makers and implementers, NGO leaders, Afghanistan specialists, and ordinary Afghan women and men.

Akram-Lodhi, A. Haroon, and Cristobal Kay (eds.)
Peasants and Globalization: Political Economy, Rural Transformation and the Agrarian Question
Abingdon, Routledge, 2009, ISBN 9780415446297, 347pp
This book explores continuity and change on the agrarian question from its early formulation in the late 19th century to its continuing relevance today. The contributors argue that neo-liberal social and economic policies have, in deepening the market imperative governing the contemporary world food system, not only failed to tackle the underlying causes of rural poverty, but deepened the agrarian crisis confronting the livelihoods of peasant farmers and rural workers. Transnational rural social movements are in response attempting to construct a more just future for the world’s farmers and rural workers.

Aoyama, Kaoru
Thai Migrant Sexworkers: From Modernization to Globalization
Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, ISBN:978-0-230-52466-8, 237pp
This study of sex work and trafficking in the globalised culture and economy offers a critique of increasingly stringent policing worldwide following the UN Protocol Against Trafficking in Persons. Using original data gathered through participatory action-research in Thailand and Japan the author presents a holistic description of a global phenomenon that successfully links personal troubles to larger social issues. The book depicts both temporal and geographical moves of migrant sex workers and demonstrates their personal development.

Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, ISBN 9780230221130, 252pp
This book looks at four campaigns in Asia and South America in which coalitions of international and national NGOs and grassroots community organisations agitated for change and to influence companies and governments, on issues such as labour rights, trade rules, and the impact of extractive industries on indigenous people. The authors use the case studies to draw out fundamental issues of legitimacy and accountability associated with such activities and to examine the role of NGOs in bringing about change. They also cover practical issues of democracy and participation within campaign networks and the relative effectiveness of different forms of advocacy.

Paris, International Institute for Educational Planning, 2009, ISBN 9789280313321, 194pp
 

Alternative education programmes are increasingly implemented in emergency and post-conflict situations. This book reviews some of these programmes, including those providing alternative access, such as accelerated learning programmes and home-based or community-based schools. It also examines programmes that are alternative in curriculum provision, offering non-traditional subjects such as HIV/AIDS prevention or landmine awareness, and those that provide an alternative pedagogy, using more learner-centred and participatory techniques. Studies from Kenya, Nepal and Sierra Leone provide recommendations for sustainable planning and co-ordination.
 

Paris, International Institute for Educational Planning, 2009, ISBN 9789280313307, 255pp

This book gives an overview of the policies, strategies and financial commitments of the 23 Western donors that constitute the OECD in relation to education in fragile and conflict-affected states. Three donors, including the EC, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and two international NGOs – the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children – were interviewed to draw out lessons learned and emerging good practice. A field visit to Liberia obtained a country perspective. Recommendations for deeper engagement by external stakeholders, and suggestions to advise recipient governments how to create an enabling environment, are also presented.