Trent Brown - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Trent Brown

Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements inv... more Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong. represent the views of the University of Wollongong. Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Brown, Trent, Sustainable agriculture, civil society and social power in rural India,

Murder in McComb: The Tina Andrews Case

Mississippi's Giant House Party Being White at the Neshoba County Fair

... Trent Watts. ... As in the beginning, assertions of an undifferentiated, democratic white com... more ... Trent Watts. ... As in the beginning, assertions of an undifferentiated, democratic white community prevail today: "no where on God's green earth," wrote ... their 1918 bid for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate, for example, or by governors Vardaman, Theodore Bilbo (1916 ...

A Legal History of Mississippi: Race, Class, and the Struggle for Opportunity

Marching in Step: Masculinity, Citizenship, and the Citadel in Post-World War II America, by Alexander Macaulay (Review)

Hungry Nation

Asian Studies Review

Agrarian Crisis in Punjab and ‘Natural Farming’ as a Response

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

After four and a half decades of Green Revolution agrarian development, the state of Punjab is no... more After four and a half decades of Green Revolution agrarian development, the state of Punjab is now, according to many commentators, in a state of social, economic and ecological crisis. In this paper, I interpret this crisis through a Gramscian lens as a ‘crisis of authority’, in the sense that while the dominant paradigm (the Green Revolution) can no longer provide solutions to the state's most pressing social problems, there is no clear single alternative either. This situation provides a political opportunity for non-hegemonic groups to articulate various other possibilities that address fundamental questions. This paper focuses on the work of one such group, the Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM). KVM is a civil society organisation that promotes ‘natural farming’ as a solution to the crisis in Punjab: natural farming is a chemical-free method of farming, which relies exclusively on materials available at the local level. This paper looks at KVM's methods of intervening in the crisis situation and examines the difficulties faced at the level of implementation. It argues that KVM's successes and failures highlight the uneven capacities of different classes and social groups to effectively respond to a ‘crisis of authority’.

Beyond the Participatory Development: Pathways Forward to Sustainable Rural Development

Social Transformations: Journal of the Global South

Participatory development models remain influential within mainstream development institutions, d... more Participatory development models remain influential within mainstream development institutions, despite substantial scholarly critique. This paper examines one case study of a rural development facilitator from Tamil Nadu, India, who adopted participatory strategies to promote transitions to ecological agriculture. It considers the challenges and frustrations she faced in adopting these strategies and their shortcomings in promoting meaningful, long-term transformations within communities. In particular, local power structures and neoliberal institutions that made up the local context made it difficult to achieve participatory development’s stated objectives. The case illustrates potential pathways forward beyond the current participatory development impasse, suggesting a modified participatory development model, with a stronger emphasis on fostering cooperative economic relations.

Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood by Steven Elliott Tripp

Journal of Southern History

Automated media delivery system

Real Cyclists Don't RaceInformal Affiliations of the Weekend Warrior

Int Rev Sociol Sport, 2007

This study examines participation in an emerging, non-conventional sporting form that retains a s... more This study examines participation in an emerging, non-conventional sporting form that retains a self generated and mediated structure, providing an attractive alternative not fully explained by a shift to individualism. Based on ethnography and interviews, the study presents a cohort of capable sporting cyclists who develop a sense of belonging and self-identity through `buying' into the social, semi-competitive, adrenaline-charged atmosphere of the weekend bunch ride. In contrast to traditional sports, participants go some way to distance themselves from serious competition and its associated layers of formality. These practitioners range in ability and the extent to which the battle for victory is replaced by Maffesolian ideas of an emotional commonality and shared participation. Competition without consequence, excitement, sociability and multiple points for personal challenge (or not), combine with a sustained sense of control that diminishes the need for capable cyclists to seek out a formal structure and yet retains characteristics that fulfil the competitive urge.

The Dunning School: Historians, Race, and the Meaning of Reconstruction ed. by John David Smith and J. Vincent Lowery

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 2015

Ecology is Permanent Economy: The Activism and Environmental Philosophy of Sunderlal Bahuguna

Pacific Affairs, 2015

Theorising a phenomenology of movement for physical education pedagogy: a synthesis of key ideas

The concept of movement and its social ecology

Sustainability as Empty Signifier: Its Rise, Fall, and Radical Potential

Antipode, 2015

Until recently, the concept of “sustainability” appeared to occupy a central position in the poli... more Until recently, the concept of “sustainability” appeared to occupy a central position in the politics of many Western democracies. Following the 2008 financial crisis, however, sustainability has been relegated to a position of secondary or tertiary significance. This article considers the rise and fall of sustainability through the theoretical lens of Ernesto Laclau, considering whether it may be seen as an example of an “empty signifier”. Through detailed engagement with Laclau's work, as well as both theoretical and empirical studies of the concept of sustainability, I argue that sustainability signifies the multiple failures of dominant discourses to recognise “the future” as a meaningful category. After examining the historical conditions under which sustainability was able to operate in this way, I go on to argue that the global financial crisis and neoliberalism more broadly have interrupted our capacity to think about the future, undermining the significance of sustainability, at least temporarily.

The role of the subjective, intrinsic notions of the body as it primarily relates to movement dis... more The role of the subjective, intrinsic notions of the body as it primarily relates to movement discourses within educational settings, such as schools, community sporting clubs, the neighbourhood or the home is not well understood. The need to develop such understandings within the moving and bodily related learning areas such as physical/outdoor/dance/environmental education is warranted, as a revitalized notion of movement, and the various contexts in which movement occurs enables deeper consideration of sentient, feeling and kinaesthetic responses of the human body 'in' movement. To consolidate and pursue the importance of the concept(s) of movement and its social ecology (Brown and Payne, 2008) such qualities, characteristics and dimensions of the movement concept must now be explored through contextualisation in these various movement related settings. As movement and moving related activities take place in various contexts, we gesture towards colleagues work in papers/presentations on environment (E) and community (C) and how such concepts individually and holistically form the trans-disciplinary potential of 'social ecology of education.' Movement is basic to bodily practices but this 'primacy of practice/movement' is not well appreciated in the current education literature. A reconceptualised notion of movement in physical, outdoor, environmental, health and experiential education does not appear to yet get at the 'heart' of context. Where meaning-making, kinesthesis, bodily consciousness and somaesthetic understanding is offered in a positive manner, to intelligent responses to the otherwise deficit-discourses and negative rhetoric about anthropocentric and/or ecocentric 'risks' such as global warming, ozone layers, or lifestyle diseases such as the obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity, sedentary behaviours and disengagement in schools, the context of the moving body are yet to comprehensively reach these same contextual levels. Our task as we see it is to move beyond practices of conceptualising, theorising and philosophising to a more pragmatic approach where the moving, feeling, sentient body is better understood in the differing contexts of physical education, dance, outdoor education, sport, coaching, fitness/personal training. Such contextualising, for the purposes of this paper, draws primarily on the phenomenology of movement and the body as it pertains to the physical education discourses in explaining human, social, cultural, more-than-human and environmental concerns that influence the ethico-political and intergenerational dimensions of the movement concept. Therefore, in this paper we focus on differing cases where the intrinsic qualities and intricacies of movement are acknowledged as part of the movement concept, but that contextual issues for the practitioner, be it physical/outdoor education teacher, recreation planner or health promotion professional are examined. In presenting these cases in 'context' we gesture towards deeper layers where traditional cultural concepts of social class, gender, ethnicity may be reinterpreted through and within the 'concept and context of movement and its social ecology' in an effort to inform curriculum theory, development and pedagogy as it pertains to movement and related pedagogies.

Youth Mobilities and Rural–Urban Tensions in Darjeeling, India

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2015

Abstract Globalisation has introduced new sources of mobility for India's youth, yet not all ... more Abstract Globalisation has introduced new sources of mobility for India's youth, yet not all youth experience mobility in the same way. The unevenness of mobility trajectories is especially visible in regional towns, where poor rural migrants and more globally connected middle-class youth occupy the same social space. To illustrate these mobility trends, this paper presents the stories of youths from various backgrounds in the town of Darjeeling, exploring different sources of mobility for rural and urban youth. While rural youth experience some forms of upward mobility as they migrate into the town, urban youth are confronted with downward mobility and are frustrated in their aspirations for professional careers and ‘modern’ lifestyles. For aspiring urban youth, upwardly-mobile rural people are seen as a threat to their privilege, blocking their mobility aspirations. This is contributing towards emerging tensions between rural and urban populations within the town.

Starting with Stories: The Power of Socio-Ecological Narrative

The Socioecological Educator, 2013

In this first chapter we felt it important to introduce the editors of the book via a series of s... more In this first chapter we felt it important to introduce the editors of the book via a series of short autobiographical stories. In each case the author has chosen a few influential experiences that they believe have been crucial in shaping the development of their socio-ecological outlook as educators and researchers. In other words, in this first section of the book we are putting practical, lived experience prior to the theoretical explanation of what it means to be a socio-ecological educator. In this first chapter of Part I we want to lead with example and narrative. We then explore and reinforce the message with sound theoretical discussion of the crucial concepts that make up this unique perspective on educational philosophy and practice. In Part II of the book, different authors from a variety of backgrounds and work contexts explore socio-ecological ideas and practices via a range of case studies. Finally, in the conclusion chapter we summarise the book and reflect on the incorporation of a socio-ecological approach into educational and research settings.

Conclusions and Future Directions: A Socio-ecological Renewal

The Socioecological Educator, 2013

At the heart of this book has been the acknowledgment that there exist different ways of seeing a... more At the heart of this book has been the acknowledgment that there exist different ways of seeing and, consequently, different ways of knowing the world. The rich and diverse case studies that make up Part II of the book have seen respected authors from the varied disciplines of physical, sport and health education, outdoor and environmental education and early childhood education come together, utilising the multi-disciplinary framework of socio-ecological education. They have done so because of their belief that a socio-ecological theory and requisite methodological approaches offer the opportunity for renewal for researchers and practitioners in their fields. A significant part of this renewal involves reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries, or silos as we called them in the introduction chapter, to forge new connections. Overcoming these ‘invisible’ structures that can govern how we see, think and act is central to the work of the socio-ecological educator and is evident in many of the case studies. To that end we want to spend a little time here, in the conclusion, discussing this issue.

Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements inv... more Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong. represent the views of the University of Wollongong. Recommended Citation Recommended Citation Brown, Trent, Sustainable agriculture, civil society and social power in rural India,

Murder in McComb: The Tina Andrews Case

Mississippi's Giant House Party Being White at the Neshoba County Fair

... Trent Watts. ... As in the beginning, assertions of an undifferentiated, democratic white com... more ... Trent Watts. ... As in the beginning, assertions of an undifferentiated, democratic white community prevail today: "no where on God's green earth," wrote ... their 1918 bid for the Democratic nomination for the US Senate, for example, or by governors Vardaman, Theodore Bilbo (1916 ...

A Legal History of Mississippi: Race, Class, and the Struggle for Opportunity

Marching in Step: Masculinity, Citizenship, and the Citadel in Post-World War II America, by Alexander Macaulay (Review)

Hungry Nation

Asian Studies Review

Agrarian Crisis in Punjab and ‘Natural Farming’ as a Response

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

After four and a half decades of Green Revolution agrarian development, the state of Punjab is no... more After four and a half decades of Green Revolution agrarian development, the state of Punjab is now, according to many commentators, in a state of social, economic and ecological crisis. In this paper, I interpret this crisis through a Gramscian lens as a ‘crisis of authority’, in the sense that while the dominant paradigm (the Green Revolution) can no longer provide solutions to the state's most pressing social problems, there is no clear single alternative either. This situation provides a political opportunity for non-hegemonic groups to articulate various other possibilities that address fundamental questions. This paper focuses on the work of one such group, the Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM). KVM is a civil society organisation that promotes ‘natural farming’ as a solution to the crisis in Punjab: natural farming is a chemical-free method of farming, which relies exclusively on materials available at the local level. This paper looks at KVM's methods of intervening in the crisis situation and examines the difficulties faced at the level of implementation. It argues that KVM's successes and failures highlight the uneven capacities of different classes and social groups to effectively respond to a ‘crisis of authority’.

Beyond the Participatory Development: Pathways Forward to Sustainable Rural Development

Social Transformations: Journal of the Global South

Participatory development models remain influential within mainstream development institutions, d... more Participatory development models remain influential within mainstream development institutions, despite substantial scholarly critique. This paper examines one case study of a rural development facilitator from Tamil Nadu, India, who adopted participatory strategies to promote transitions to ecological agriculture. It considers the challenges and frustrations she faced in adopting these strategies and their shortcomings in promoting meaningful, long-term transformations within communities. In particular, local power structures and neoliberal institutions that made up the local context made it difficult to achieve participatory development’s stated objectives. The case illustrates potential pathways forward beyond the current participatory development impasse, suggesting a modified participatory development model, with a stronger emphasis on fostering cooperative economic relations.

Ty Cobb, Baseball, and American Manhood by Steven Elliott Tripp

Journal of Southern History

Automated media delivery system

Real Cyclists Don't RaceInformal Affiliations of the Weekend Warrior

Int Rev Sociol Sport, 2007

This study examines participation in an emerging, non-conventional sporting form that retains a s... more This study examines participation in an emerging, non-conventional sporting form that retains a self generated and mediated structure, providing an attractive alternative not fully explained by a shift to individualism. Based on ethnography and interviews, the study presents a cohort of capable sporting cyclists who develop a sense of belonging and self-identity through `buying' into the social, semi-competitive, adrenaline-charged atmosphere of the weekend bunch ride. In contrast to traditional sports, participants go some way to distance themselves from serious competition and its associated layers of formality. These practitioners range in ability and the extent to which the battle for victory is replaced by Maffesolian ideas of an emotional commonality and shared participation. Competition without consequence, excitement, sociability and multiple points for personal challenge (or not), combine with a sustained sense of control that diminishes the need for capable cyclists to seek out a formal structure and yet retains characteristics that fulfil the competitive urge.

The Dunning School: Historians, Race, and the Meaning of Reconstruction ed. by John David Smith and J. Vincent Lowery

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, 2015

Ecology is Permanent Economy: The Activism and Environmental Philosophy of Sunderlal Bahuguna

Pacific Affairs, 2015

Theorising a phenomenology of movement for physical education pedagogy: a synthesis of key ideas

The concept of movement and its social ecology

Sustainability as Empty Signifier: Its Rise, Fall, and Radical Potential

Antipode, 2015

Until recently, the concept of “sustainability” appeared to occupy a central position in the poli... more Until recently, the concept of “sustainability” appeared to occupy a central position in the politics of many Western democracies. Following the 2008 financial crisis, however, sustainability has been relegated to a position of secondary or tertiary significance. This article considers the rise and fall of sustainability through the theoretical lens of Ernesto Laclau, considering whether it may be seen as an example of an “empty signifier”. Through detailed engagement with Laclau's work, as well as both theoretical and empirical studies of the concept of sustainability, I argue that sustainability signifies the multiple failures of dominant discourses to recognise “the future” as a meaningful category. After examining the historical conditions under which sustainability was able to operate in this way, I go on to argue that the global financial crisis and neoliberalism more broadly have interrupted our capacity to think about the future, undermining the significance of sustainability, at least temporarily.

The role of the subjective, intrinsic notions of the body as it primarily relates to movement dis... more The role of the subjective, intrinsic notions of the body as it primarily relates to movement discourses within educational settings, such as schools, community sporting clubs, the neighbourhood or the home is not well understood. The need to develop such understandings within the moving and bodily related learning areas such as physical/outdoor/dance/environmental education is warranted, as a revitalized notion of movement, and the various contexts in which movement occurs enables deeper consideration of sentient, feeling and kinaesthetic responses of the human body 'in' movement. To consolidate and pursue the importance of the concept(s) of movement and its social ecology (Brown and Payne, 2008) such qualities, characteristics and dimensions of the movement concept must now be explored through contextualisation in these various movement related settings. As movement and moving related activities take place in various contexts, we gesture towards colleagues work in papers/presentations on environment (E) and community (C) and how such concepts individually and holistically form the trans-disciplinary potential of 'social ecology of education.' Movement is basic to bodily practices but this 'primacy of practice/movement' is not well appreciated in the current education literature. A reconceptualised notion of movement in physical, outdoor, environmental, health and experiential education does not appear to yet get at the 'heart' of context. Where meaning-making, kinesthesis, bodily consciousness and somaesthetic understanding is offered in a positive manner, to intelligent responses to the otherwise deficit-discourses and negative rhetoric about anthropocentric and/or ecocentric 'risks' such as global warming, ozone layers, or lifestyle diseases such as the obesity, diabetes, physical inactivity, sedentary behaviours and disengagement in schools, the context of the moving body are yet to comprehensively reach these same contextual levels. Our task as we see it is to move beyond practices of conceptualising, theorising and philosophising to a more pragmatic approach where the moving, feeling, sentient body is better understood in the differing contexts of physical education, dance, outdoor education, sport, coaching, fitness/personal training. Such contextualising, for the purposes of this paper, draws primarily on the phenomenology of movement and the body as it pertains to the physical education discourses in explaining human, social, cultural, more-than-human and environmental concerns that influence the ethico-political and intergenerational dimensions of the movement concept. Therefore, in this paper we focus on differing cases where the intrinsic qualities and intricacies of movement are acknowledged as part of the movement concept, but that contextual issues for the practitioner, be it physical/outdoor education teacher, recreation planner or health promotion professional are examined. In presenting these cases in 'context' we gesture towards deeper layers where traditional cultural concepts of social class, gender, ethnicity may be reinterpreted through and within the 'concept and context of movement and its social ecology' in an effort to inform curriculum theory, development and pedagogy as it pertains to movement and related pedagogies.

Youth Mobilities and Rural–Urban Tensions in Darjeeling, India

South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2015

Abstract Globalisation has introduced new sources of mobility for India's youth, yet not all ... more Abstract Globalisation has introduced new sources of mobility for India's youth, yet not all youth experience mobility in the same way. The unevenness of mobility trajectories is especially visible in regional towns, where poor rural migrants and more globally connected middle-class youth occupy the same social space. To illustrate these mobility trends, this paper presents the stories of youths from various backgrounds in the town of Darjeeling, exploring different sources of mobility for rural and urban youth. While rural youth experience some forms of upward mobility as they migrate into the town, urban youth are confronted with downward mobility and are frustrated in their aspirations for professional careers and ‘modern’ lifestyles. For aspiring urban youth, upwardly-mobile rural people are seen as a threat to their privilege, blocking their mobility aspirations. This is contributing towards emerging tensions between rural and urban populations within the town.

Starting with Stories: The Power of Socio-Ecological Narrative

The Socioecological Educator, 2013

In this first chapter we felt it important to introduce the editors of the book via a series of s... more In this first chapter we felt it important to introduce the editors of the book via a series of short autobiographical stories. In each case the author has chosen a few influential experiences that they believe have been crucial in shaping the development of their socio-ecological outlook as educators and researchers. In other words, in this first section of the book we are putting practical, lived experience prior to the theoretical explanation of what it means to be a socio-ecological educator. In this first chapter of Part I we want to lead with example and narrative. We then explore and reinforce the message with sound theoretical discussion of the crucial concepts that make up this unique perspective on educational philosophy and practice. In Part II of the book, different authors from a variety of backgrounds and work contexts explore socio-ecological ideas and practices via a range of case studies. Finally, in the conclusion chapter we summarise the book and reflect on the incorporation of a socio-ecological approach into educational and research settings.

Conclusions and Future Directions: A Socio-ecological Renewal

The Socioecological Educator, 2013

At the heart of this book has been the acknowledgment that there exist different ways of seeing a... more At the heart of this book has been the acknowledgment that there exist different ways of seeing and, consequently, different ways of knowing the world. The rich and diverse case studies that make up Part II of the book have seen respected authors from the varied disciplines of physical, sport and health education, outdoor and environmental education and early childhood education come together, utilising the multi-disciplinary framework of socio-ecological education. They have done so because of their belief that a socio-ecological theory and requisite methodological approaches offer the opportunity for renewal for researchers and practitioners in their fields. A significant part of this renewal involves reaching beyond disciplinary boundaries, or silos as we called them in the introduction chapter, to forge new connections. Overcoming these ‘invisible’ structures that can govern how we see, think and act is central to the work of the socio-ecological educator and is evident in many of the case studies. To that end we want to spend a little time here, in the conclusion, discussing this issue.