Rethinking Rural Studies

Fall 2025 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series

About the speaker

David L. Brown is International Professor of Development Sociology, Emeritus at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Professor Brown is a social demographer whose research focuses on migration and population redistribution in the US and Europe with a particular focus on how migration and population change affect and are affected by local community organization. His work also examines population ageing, the social organization of the urban-rural interface, the production and reproduction of social and economic inequalities between regions and rural vs. urban areas, and policies to ameliorate such inequalities. His research has been funded by the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (NIFA), US Economic Development Administration, US Department of State and several Foundations. His recent books include: Rethinking Rural Studies, Rural Communities in the 21st Century: Resilience and Transformation (Polity, 2011; second edition 2019) (with Kai Schafft), The International Handbook of Rural Studies (Routledge 2016) (co-edited with Mark Shucksmith), Rural Transformations and Rural Policies in the UK and US (Routledge, 2012) (co-edited with Shucksmith, Shortall and others), Rural Retirement Migration (Springer, 2008) (with Nina Glasgow), Population Change and Rural Society (Springer, 2006) (co-edited with William Kandell). Among other recognition, he received the Distinguished Rural Sociologist award from the Rural Sociological Society; is past president of the Rural Sociological Society; is past chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on the Sociology of Development; received the Chancellor’s Award for Sustained Professional Service from the State University of New York, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rousse University in Bulgaria in 2007 recognizing his contributions to that university’s rural and
regional development educational programs. He served as president of the Cornell Academics and Professors Emeritus (CAPE) during 2020-21.

Abstract

Rural studies is a grounded, trans-disciplinary approach to applied social science research and scholarship. In this seminar, Professor Brown discusses how the perspective’s defining attributes such as relationality and place, embeddedness, a rejection of binary thinking ,and a pluralistic, multi-methodological research strategy positions rural studies scholars to engage in “public social science.” Examples of how the rural studies approach enhances knowledge of rural social and economic organization and change are explored.

About the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations. 

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. eastern time during the semester in 175 Warren Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.