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Women in rice farming
Carr. Theory
Marilyn, rmci Prac~iw
cd.
(1985)
71rr AT
in Appropriutc
Rcrrdcr: T~~c~ltrtology
London: International Technology (468 pp., paperback, $19.50). It is pleasing to have at last a textbook by which one can sample the multi-gcncr~itic,n/ region/discipline dchntcs in the field of appropriate technology over the last 30 years. Logically it comes from ITDG and is cditcd by their Senior Economist on policy and planning. About 200 excerpts. ranging from one to four pages. have been drawn trom organizational, academic or journalist reports. many hard to retrieve. The excerpts are grouped by IO topical chapters; each has two to four subdivisions. It would be easy to create course sessions around a chapter or subchapter. Most of the groups look well designed; but “new development theories” was dated, slighting current alternative dcvclopment and Green politics. In gcncral. technical issues and the intellectual history of the field were better displayed than the current state-of-the-art on sociopolitical, institutional. or cultural issues. One limit as a text will be a lack of complctc sourcing on bibliography. But for beginning development education. this is a very valuable compendium. likely to be the standard reference for the rest of the decade.
a:, the situation
of Asian
women
Pen~i-Montenegro, tar\ Rurd
Alberto. ed. ( 1YX5) LXwcNott-~~t~~~~rt~ttr~,trrtrl Or,Srrtrizctriotts jitr ncvcloptttcrlt. Rome: FAO. FFI IC/AD
of
(220 pp..
paperback,
no cost).
The Freedom from Hunger C~unpaigniAction for Development of FAO asked the International Documentation and Communication Center (IDCC) in Rome to create a directory of NG<)s to facilitate communication. IDCC sent out 3.681 questionnaires and sorted out the X27 replies to product this compendium on 500 such organiza tions. Certain FAO needs were built into the selection process: suitability for FAO work: field orientation; location in the Third World; and balance in activity. Naturally NGOs had to have the political security. bureaucratic skill. and organizational desire to seek such global attention and linkage. Name and subject indexes allow easy access to ;I list organized by region and country. Each entry included organizational type, language. level of action, activities, and publications as well as addresses and phone. Such compendiums will be useful for local to local contact. but local to global can easily bc an organizational mismatch threatening the smaller with subordination.
International Rice
Rice Research (lY85) Wotnetz itt Aldershot, UK and Brookfield, Cower (%I pp., hardback f22.50/
ment studies demands.
Furtnitzg.
Vermont: $37.50).
These 30 papers from a September lYX3 conference in Manila provide a reasonable reference volume not only on the state of conventional research of Western social science on women and rice agriculture but also on the range of hidden biases built into the work of the institutions of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. With two or three exceptions these essays focus on the agenda of neoclassical economics, “constraints” women face and alternative technical answers. One learns a great deal about household variations and the uneven impacts of technology; there is very little. however, about alternative institutionbuilding. the role of culture and political economy. or the activity of the world-system and its agencies. The future is to be constructed by “action research projects” prepared by these same elites; if they did not “listen to and learn from local women” at this conference, why will they later? For a number of South and Southeast Asian areas. there is much of value here. But for research methods or policy prescriptions. this volume is not as strong a foundation for develop-
Tilly, Chris et ul. ( lY85) Fifteett Yecrrs oj Cottltnltttit~-based Dr~~eloptt~ent: At1 Atltlotateci Bihliogtxphy, 196843. Chicago: Council of Planning Libraries, CPL Bibliography pp., paperback, $15).
156 (105
The Council has been publishing small reference tools on domestic American topics for some years. Here a group from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT has assembled some 60(&700 organizational, institute and academic publications about US urban development and citizen involvement in planning and implementation. Lack of indexes puts pressure on the organizational table. The three major headings and 37 subheadings require careful study for access. Under each heading different types of sources are separated: general work, case studies. handbooks. and bibliographies. Page layout and organizational design make it hard to use quickly. Annotations vary substantially; there is some effort to indicate relative value. Beyond the lack of rural and global concern, limitations were visible in specific subject areas like “alternative forms of enterprise ownership.” But mainstream literature on housing. land issues and government policies thereon seem well covered; to track these and other
Marilyn, rmci Prac~iw
cd.
(1985)
71rr AT
in Appropriutc
Rcrrdcr: T~~c~ltrtology
London: International Technology (468 pp., paperback, $19.50). It is pleasing to have at last a textbook by which one can sample the multi-gcncr~itic,n/ region/discipline dchntcs in the field of appropriate technology over the last 30 years. Logically it comes from ITDG and is cditcd by their Senior Economist on policy and planning. About 200 excerpts. ranging from one to four pages. have been drawn trom organizational, academic or journalist reports. many hard to retrieve. The excerpts are grouped by IO topical chapters; each has two to four subdivisions. It would be easy to create course sessions around a chapter or subchapter. Most of the groups look well designed; but “new development theories” was dated, slighting current alternative dcvclopment and Green politics. In gcncral. technical issues and the intellectual history of the field were better displayed than the current state-of-the-art on sociopolitical, institutional. or cultural issues. One limit as a text will be a lack of complctc sourcing on bibliography. But for beginning development education. this is a very valuable compendium. likely to be the standard reference for the rest of the decade.
a:, the situation
of Asian
women
Pen~i-Montenegro, tar\ Rurd
Alberto. ed. ( 1YX5) LXwcNott-~~t~~~~rt~ttr~,trrtrl Or,Srrtrizctriotts jitr ncvcloptttcrlt. Rome: FAO. FFI IC/AD
of
(220 pp..
paperback,
no cost).
The Freedom from Hunger C~unpaigniAction for Development of FAO asked the International Documentation and Communication Center (IDCC) in Rome to create a directory of NG<)s to facilitate communication. IDCC sent out 3.681 questionnaires and sorted out the X27 replies to product this compendium on 500 such organiza tions. Certain FAO needs were built into the selection process: suitability for FAO work: field orientation; location in the Third World; and balance in activity. Naturally NGOs had to have the political security. bureaucratic skill. and organizational desire to seek such global attention and linkage. Name and subject indexes allow easy access to ;I list organized by region and country. Each entry included organizational type, language. level of action, activities, and publications as well as addresses and phone. Such compendiums will be useful for local to local contact. but local to global can easily bc an organizational mismatch threatening the smaller with subordination.
International Rice
Rice Research (lY85) Wotnetz itt Aldershot, UK and Brookfield, Cower (%I pp., hardback f22.50/
ment studies demands.
Furtnitzg.
Vermont: $37.50).
These 30 papers from a September lYX3 conference in Manila provide a reasonable reference volume not only on the state of conventional research of Western social science on women and rice agriculture but also on the range of hidden biases built into the work of the institutions of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research. With two or three exceptions these essays focus on the agenda of neoclassical economics, “constraints” women face and alternative technical answers. One learns a great deal about household variations and the uneven impacts of technology; there is very little. however, about alternative institutionbuilding. the role of culture and political economy. or the activity of the world-system and its agencies. The future is to be constructed by “action research projects” prepared by these same elites; if they did not “listen to and learn from local women” at this conference, why will they later? For a number of South and Southeast Asian areas. there is much of value here. But for research methods or policy prescriptions. this volume is not as strong a foundation for develop-
Tilly, Chris et ul. ( lY85) Fifteett Yecrrs oj Cottltnltttit~-based Dr~~eloptt~ent: At1 Atltlotateci Bihliogtxphy, 196843. Chicago: Council of Planning Libraries, CPL Bibliography pp., paperback, $15).
156 (105
The Council has been publishing small reference tools on domestic American topics for some years. Here a group from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT has assembled some 60(&700 organizational, institute and academic publications about US urban development and citizen involvement in planning and implementation. Lack of indexes puts pressure on the organizational table. The three major headings and 37 subheadings require careful study for access. Under each heading different types of sources are separated: general work, case studies. handbooks. and bibliographies. Page layout and organizational design make it hard to use quickly. Annotations vary substantially; there is some effort to indicate relative value. Beyond the lack of rural and global concern, limitations were visible in specific subject areas like “alternative forms of enterprise ownership.” But mainstream literature on housing. land issues and government policies thereon seem well covered; to track these and other