Time: Wednesday March 27, 10:00-11:30 AM BJT

Location: LIB 2105

Guest Speaker: Dr. Jixia Lu, Professor at College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University

Abstract

This paper examines the case of Qian village, a rural community in Central China. It is typical of a particular kind of tension between rural livelihoods, environment and human health and wellbeing that is quite common in Central and Southwest China, where deposits of heavy metals are concentrated, and mining and agriculture coexist. The author has followed these dynamic interactions between different dimensions of sustainability since 2009, as part of an interdisciplinary team of natural, medical and social scientists.This paper builds on this earlier analysis to examine the impact of more recent policies since 2017 when the Rural Revitalisation Strategy was proposed. Based on tracking the trajectories of the policy changes in terms of economic (industry development), environmental and ecological (de-mining and re-agriculture) and also the attitudes of villagers to the shifted policies and their successive livelihood strategies, Qian village provides a case for us to rethink what sustainable livelihoods really mean to rural residents and how government can initiate sustainable options that will be acceptable to local people.

Bio

Dr. Lu is a Professor at the College of Humanities and Development Studies, China Agricultural University. Lu is also a visiting fellow of Institute for Development Studies (IDS) in University of Sussex, UK and East Asia and Southeast Asia Research Center of Lund University. In recent years, her research focuses on Household livelihood and rural development, South-south migration and development. She has published over 50 articles on international and national journals, including top ones like World Development, Foreign Affairs Review (in Chinese), etc.