Dynamics of the family farm in the age of EU expansion: A model for East German women?
1997
De Soto, H.G.
Extracted from the author's introduction: "The collapse of the rural economy in Eastern Europe, and the accompanying processes of privatization have again brought the family farm into debate as a possible unit of production following the end of collectivization... My aim in this paper is to present an anthropologically informed analysis of the family farm. In particular, i will examine whether or not the scepticism of these women is warranted concerning the family farm as apossible model for employment after collectivization. Furthermore, I also ask whether or not Eastern German women's expressed hesitation might be related to insufficient familiarity with family farming under advanced capitalist market relations and economic integration into the European Community. In my examination of the structures of the family farm and the process of differentiation under advanced capitalist conditions, I base my data on the one-and-a-half years of ethnographic fieldwork I conducted in a Black Forest village in Western Germany. where I employed the anthropological method of participant observation. In the first part I will diskuss the theoretical framework which guided my analysis. Then I will present the Black Forest casestudy, and in the last part I will offer concluding propositions and suggestions concerning the family farm as a possible future model for employment for women after collectivization in Eastern Germany."
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