#Rural Cheap Land

[bookpdf]

package tracking is a great way to discover the tiniest middle-of-nowhere towns you've never heard of. like you look them up and they have like 7k people population so i guess it's just 7k people & a giant warehouse & my package

[apxnproperty]

Best Rural Land for Sale in Arizona: A Buyer’s Guide

Discover the best options for rural land for sale in Arizona. Explore investment opportunities, cheap properties, and owner financing options in this comprehensive guide. Learn more on rural land by reading this blog: https://apxnprop.blogspot.com/2025/01/best-rural-land-for-sale-in-arizona.html

[alwaysaffordableland]

Discover Serenity: Land for Sale in Ocala FL

Beyond its natural wonders, Ocala FL also provides a vibrant community where city comforts seamlessly blend with rural living. Delight in the convenience of nearby amenities, including shopping centers, dining establishments, and renowned schools. And with easy access to major highways, embark on spontaneous weekend getaways or enjoy a hassle-free commute to and from work. Discover the perfect piece of land for sale in Ocala, FL! With incredible options for outdoor recreation, you won't want to miss out on this opportunity!

[reasonsforhope]

Scientists have developed a new solar-powered system to convert saltwater into fresh drinking water which they say could help reduce dangerous the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera.

Via tests in rural communities, they showed that the process is more than 20% cheaper than traditional methods and can be deployed in rural locations around the globe.

Building on existing processes that convert saline groundwater to freshwater, the researchers from King’s College London, in collaboration with MIT and the Helmholtz Institute for Renewable Energy Systems, created a new system that produced consistent levels of water using solar power, and reported it in a paper published recently in Nature Water.

It works through a process called electrodialysis which separates the salt using a set of specialized membranes that channel salt ions into a stream of brine, leaving the water fresh and drinkable. By flexibly adjusting the voltage and the rate at which salt water flowed through the system, the researchers developed a system that adjusts to variable sunshine while not compromising on the amount of fresh drinking water produced.

Using data first gathered in the village of Chelleru near Hyderabad in India, and then recreating these conditions of the village in New Mexico, the team successfully converted up to 10 cubic meters, or several bathtubs worth of fresh drinking water. This was enough for 3,000 people a day with the process continuing to run regardless of variable solar power caused by cloud coverage and rain.

[Note: Not sure what metric they're using to calculate daily water needs here. Presumably this is drinking water only.]

Dr. Wei He from the Department of Engineering at King’s College London believes the new technology could bring massive benefits to rural communities, not only increasing the supply of drinking water but also bringing health benefits.

“By offering a cheap, eco-friendly alternative that can be operated off the grid, our technology enables communities to tap into alternative water sources (such as deep aquifers or saline water) to address water scarcity and contamination in traditional water supplies,” said He.

“This technology can expand water sources available to communities beyond traditional ones and by providing water from uncontaminated saline sources, may help combat water scarcity or unexpected emergencies when conventional water supplies are disrupted, for example like the recent cholera outbreaks in Zambia.”

In the global rural population, 1.6 billion people face water scarcity, many of whom are reliant on stressed reserves of groundwater lying beneath the Earth’s surface.

However, worldwide 56% of groundwater is saline and unsuitable for consumption. This issue is particularly prevalent in India, where 60% of the land harbors undrinkable saline water. Consequently, there is a pressing need for efficient desalination methods to create fresh drinking water cheaply, and at scale.

Traditional desalination technology has relied either on costly batteries in off-grid systems or a grid system to supply the energy necessary to remove salt from the water. In developing countries’ rural areas, however, grid infrastructure can be unreliable and is largely reliant on fossil fuels...

“By removing the need for a grid system entirely and cutting reliance on battery tech by 92%, our system can provide reliable access to safe drinking water, entirely emission-free, onsite, and at a discount of roughly 22% to the people who need it compared to traditional methods,” He said.

The system also has the potential to be used outside of developing areas, particularly in agriculture where climate change is leading to unstable reserves of fresh water for irrigation.

The team plans to scale up the availability of the technology across India through collaboration with local partners. Beyond this, a team from MIT also plans to create a start-up to commercialize and fund the technology.

“While the US and UK have more stable, diversified grids than most countries, they still rely on fossil fuels. By removing fossil fuels from the equation for energy-hungry sectors like agriculture, we can help accelerate the transition to Net Zero,” He said.

-via Good News Network, April 2, 2024

[elbiotipo]

Ocassionally you see articles that are like "scientists are trying to hide how bad things are" and I'm the opposite of that. I've done my work on ecological restoration (actually grabbed a shovel and planted trees) and I'm amazed at how fast nature can restore itself. Ecologists used to think restoring tropical rainforests, to give an example of a complex ecosystem, would take centuries to go back if it was even possible -this is why you see all the dystopian fiction of rainforests going extinct- when in fact, it has been proven that without human pressure, ecological succession takes place and rainforests grow back nearly to its original physionomy in a few years, even if diversity does take a time to bounce back. Reintroducing animals might sound harder and it is, but we must remember that animals have faster cycles than humans. Just letting breeding pairs in protected areas is often enough for populations to grow back, as in the reintroduction of jaguars to Iberá in Corrientes Argentina, and many other cases. What is even more interesting and encouraging is how cheap, both in the monetary and the general effort sense, these works are. If a bunch of underpaid biologists, rural people and park rangers can do it, imagine if they had the full support and backing from states and international institutions.

We are at a stage where, besides climate change, we are facing tremendous biodiversity loss and this mostly comes to our methods of land use and food production. But these can be changed. We must assume the fact that nature is not a pristine untouched thing, but humans, in every continent they have lived in, have long managed its resources. The Amazon Rainforest is full of useful plants that hint at silviculture which is still done by its native peoples, the deserts and tundra that seem uninhabited have been home to pastoral and hunter-gatherer peoples. Humans have shaped all habitats on Earth, even the most 'untouched' ones. Just as they have managed their environments and natural resources, other civilizations have managed or mismanaged them. Now that industrial civilization has spread across the globe, we need to find a way to balance our need for food and other products with the need to preserve and take care of Earth. This can be done, we can ensure both a good quality of life and a protected biosphere. We can stop the dichotomy of humans separate from nature, assume our historical role as managers and stewards of natural resources, and do it with our modern understanding of ecology and science.

This does mean that it will take a lot of popular mobilization and change to uproot current interests and create states that uphold these principles. But I'm a marxist. I don't 'believe' in class struggle, I think it's a fact based on observations about society, and I also think that this current form of capitalism will eventually be replaced by socialism, and I believe the future socialist societies will not do the same mistakes as the past. We not only can create new societies that can take care of nature and the general welfare of people, but I also think that as history proceeds, it will be inevitable.

[serpentface]

How do the people of the lower classes live in wardin? Is It different in each region? How dynamic is the social ladder? Does slavery exist?

Gonna just go through the whole social structure to answer this thoroughly

(little note for this post- when I say 'urban' and 'rural' it doesn't have the same meaning as the contemporary- urban Wardi spaces are the major cities and towns INCLUDING the massive areas of farmland that surround and them. Rural spaces are lands distant from major cities, wherein most people live in small and isolated villages sustained by herding or small-scale farming and are surrounded by grassland or scrub)

SOCIAL HIERARCHY:

The majority of cheap labor is maintained by high levels of class stratification in a fairly strict and well defined social structure. This hierarchy can be roughly divided into 3 main classes- royalty, nobility, and commoners.

---

Royalty consists of the Usoma and immediate kin, functionally the Usoma, the Usoma-Hittibe, the Usoma's wife, and his male heir. The rest of the royal family will be married into nobility and be functionally a part of that class (though tend to be appointed to high ranking roles in provincial government or the imperial court).

---

The noble class is broader and describes all landowners, who occupy a variety of roles. They staff the imperial court, form the majority of provincial officials, and many of the most Major priesthoods take their members (or at least high priests) from noble families. They own most of the land and livestock that urban agricultural laborers work, and are expected to distribute much of their take of agricultural goods to their provincial government. This status is hereditary and only lost in cases of individual disowning or Extremely profound familial disgrace (usually severe criminal behavior) that leads them to be stripped of their title and their lands seized.

There's three main variants of the nobility class

Old nobility: families with very longstanding status and land holdings, long predating Imperial Wardin as an entity and often derived from older chiefdoms and/or descended from the royalty or politicians of its previous kingdoms + city-states). These typically own the most land and have the most political power, but this is not universal. New nobility/'new money': an emergent class that rose in tandem with a wealthy mercantile class, largely in the past two centuries. These primarily derive from very wealthy mercantile families that secured political/trade power during the chaotic formation of Imperial Wardin. Most 'new money' families are actually at least a century old and TRULY New 'new money' status is rare. They are likely to have less landholdings but may have the same or greater political power (and sometimes material wealth) than old nobility. 'landed commoners' or 'lesser nobility': This isn't Really a subclass of nobility in practice, but have similar status and privileges in theory. These are people/families who have been bestowed minor titles and granted land ownership, while generally lacking the hard power of others in this class group. Most lesser nobility is comprised of priests or members of elite warrior orders, some other lay/civilian commoners may occasionally receive this grant as a reward or recognition. Very minimal hard power comes with this title, though it can enable a person to maneuver their family into a true position of 'nobility' with luck.

There are mild cultural distinctions between old nobility and new money nobility (as is typical when 'new money' status is differentiated). The most socially conservative old nobility families have avoided intermarriage with their new money counterparts and tend to conceptualize their status as an Innate quality rather than the circumstances of their birth, one that would be sullied by intermarriage with upjumped commoners (often accompanied by appeals to traditionalism and fond memories of a morally superior time that never actually existed). This is a minority however, and the two groups are largely intermingled and united by a sense that, regardless of ancestral origin, they're notably better than most other people.

---

The commoner class includes the VAST majority of the population. This class is very broad and includes a significant spectrum of wealth (some commoners are outright rich), but can be defined by lack of legal land ownership. 

The majority of commoners (and majority of people in general) are agricultural laborers, and form a distinct subclass.

-Urban agriculturalists mostly work on land owned by nobility and used to sustain their city's population- the majority of their harvest is required to be given to their landowners, and a (smaller) majority of that is required to be distributed to the provincial government. They are allowed to live on their granted land and grow food for their own subsistence, but will have to buy or obtain their own animals for completely free use of livestock. -Rural agriculturalists are primarily living in villages away from any urban centers. Their land is not owned by nobility but not considered their own, being legally designated 'owned' by their province, and (in most cases) a percentage of their harvest is required to be paid to their province as tribute.

The other members of the lower commoner class are mainly fishers, sailors, trade caravaneers, and a variety of 'unskilled' laborers (contracted to build roads and buildings and general public works, etc).

---

The upper commoner class is varied and more difficult to place, and consists largely of people living Within the urban centers. These are mostly artisans and merchants, as well as a variety of lower status public officials, teachers/tutors/scholars, specialized agriculturalists, poets, bards, athletes, actors, etc.

Within many of the major cities, skilled artisans exist in selective mercantile guilds and can be economically secure or potentially even wealthy. These are potters, painters, sculptors, silver and goldsmiths, blacksmiths, weavers, saddlers, leatherworkers, shipbuilders, tailors, etc etc. The merchant owners of these guilds are typically fairly wealthy, and the most powerful guilds tend to be owned by established new money nobility. These guilds are most common and diversified in the major coastal provincial capitals and some of their towns (Ephennos, Wardin, and Erubinnos, some will say that Godsmouth is Run by its guilds) and a lesser/less diversified phenomena in interior or small coastal capitals (Jatsait, Erub, Lobera). Artisans may be commissioned by temples, nobility, or even royalty to produce their goods, and very successful artists can make a name and very good living for themselves.

Animal sacrifice is very important to religious practice- captive sacrificial stocks are owned by each priesthood and reserved for their internal or public rites, but the general public often desires to bring their own high value offerings and sacrificial stock vendors have emerged as a concept to meet this demand in urban contexts. These are a subset of merchants who purchase surplus livestock from nobility or agricultural laborers (or hunt or poach wild game) and resell it to the general public, priced by value and rarity. The vast majority deal in birds (cheap to acquire and good enough for common offerings), but some wealthier/craftier merchants trade in larger livestock or other highly valuable animals. A subset of sacrificial stock vendors are more opportunistic and deal in non-animal offerings, usually vending desirable flowers, grains, spices and oils utilized in common offerings and strategically setting themselves up near temples or en-route to festivals. This is practice is legal and not considered outright heretical in of itself, but is kind of the used car salesman of Wardi culture (ie: "this cow is DEFINITELY older than a year, clearly diseased, and has ABSOLUTELY been bred and yoked, I'm not paying you ten gulls ((coinage)) for this shit come on man") and they do not tend to be regarded all that positively.

--

There are a few other subclasses who do not neatly fit into the core class hierarchy:

Priesthood: This group consists of all official priests of the Faith. Their hard material social status can vary- a significant proportion are selected from nobility and retain other aspects of that status, but some are commoners. All enjoy a degree of social protection, esteemed status, and security.

Warrior class: This is not the same thing as being a soldier (all male citizens can be conscripted as footsoldiers), and is rather a high status warrior placed into an elite military order. Much of the warrior class is members of nobility, but this isn't Always pure nepotism and this status will often be given in recognition of prowess regardless of class origin. If a commoner, they are very often bestowed land titles and become lesser nobility.

Non-Imperial Wardi: These are groups within the claimed territories who are not a part of the cultural core, mostly ethnic minority groups (Hill Tribes, North Wardi, Cholemdinae, Wogan, and unassimilated remnants of other pre-Wardi tribes). These groups live within their own social structures (though many could be considered to fall under the 'rural agriculturalist' class group). Many are in a tributary relationship with their surrounding province, in which case they retain full self governance in return for giving a percentage of their yield to provincial officials. Some people living on claimed Imperial Wardi territory exist fully outside of the tributary structure (mainly areas that are difficult to access, very distant from city centers, and/or hostile to the production of mass-desirable crops or agriculture in general) and are entirely just doing their own damn thing.

SOCIAL MOBILITY:

As implied in all that, social mobility is very limited. The vast majority of people will occupy the same class position (same OCCUPATION at that) as their parents and grandparents and great grandparents and so on.

Intra-class mobility (ie from a field laborer to an artisan) is possible, but practical and cultural limitations discourage this. Your children inheriting the same labor as you is generally the most guaranteed method of security for yourself and your family. In the artisan and mercantile classes, passing your knowledge and trade from father to son is culturally typical, and taking up your father's position is somewhat a matter of familial piety (though outright IMPROVING your position to your family's benefit is better).

Servant positions actually offer some of the best intra-class mobility (and sometimes Full movements up the social ladder). A person from a very poor family can potentially find very well paid and secure labor in working for a noble family or priesthood. Servant positions to major priesthoods in general can have very good outcomes, potentially landing one a job as a high ranking attendant. The child servant-squires of Odonii may be initiated into the warrior class if they remain in the order as adults, which can be a VERY desirable outcome (if it occurs).

Initiation into a priesthood or the warrior class through any means is the other main method. The major priesthoods tend to select their members from nobility, but this is not ubiquitous (the Galenii are the biggest priesthood that will readily initiate across class lines). Initiation into the warrior class in recognition for prowess gives one high social status and will land one in the lesser nobility, in which you are bestowed land and a title. (This may not have all the hard power of true nobility, but it will generally set yourself and your family up for life).

The 'new money' nobility primarily stems from wealthy members of the mercantile class involved in the trade system, but most established themselves and secured their position a century ago and there's not a lot of remaining 'openings' for other merchants to achieve this. Most of the upper mercantile subclass will be economically secure but not landed or having the other status of noblemen.

Marriage into a noble family can occasionally be an avenue for mobility. The vast, VAST majority of marriages in noble families are arranged, and arranged with other noble families. Intra-class marriages will be functionally rare, but not non-existent- this will mostly be the daughters of the upper mercantile subclass being married to noblemen, but it will VERY occasionally be a "yeah fuck it, I'll let my dumbass sixth son marry that hot fisherman's daughter, who gives a shit" type situation.

SLAVERY:

Slavery is not a major part of the framework (as most cheap labor is provided via class stratification to maintain a massive, dependent lower agricultural class), but exists in the form of forced labor of enslaved prisoners (war captives and some condemned criminals) and indentured servitude.

Chattel slavery is not practiced here (beyond forms of illegal human trafficking, which is an Extant but not substantial phenomena), and enslaved prisoners are considered ‘owned’ by their province for the duration of their ‘sentence’. This force is mostly exploited for dangerous hard labor, especially mining and building products. Their enslavement is conceptualized as a form of punishment with a sentence of an explicit duration (ranging from months to years to life), so this status is not hereditary and Ostensibly not necessarily lifelong, but enslaved prisoners often endure grueling conditions and abuse with high mortality rates, and may experience tremendous barriers to the protections of citizenship or other forms of social security even if freed.

Indentured servitude is a form of slavery in which a person enters a legally enforced servant/labor position and is denied freedom of movement or ending their servitude for the duration of their contracts. Most indentured servants are forced into (or occasionally voluntarily enter) this position to pay off debts. Legally, indentured servitude can only be enforced during the duration of their contract (either the length to pay off a debt or an allotted time span) and the contract owner is required to provide for their basic needs, but abuses obviously occur. 

This is separate from what I just refer to as servants, who are free commoners in paid positions with enforceable legal rights to end their servitude at any time (with pay cuts or similar consequences if this breaks a contract). These people occupy a broad spectrum of positions from cheaply paid labor to very well paid, even high status positions serving nobility, priesthoods, and royalty. As mentioned, these positions very occasionally offer class mobility, more commonly offer a good chance of ensuring lasting security for oneself and one's family (without class mobility), and in most cases it's just work that puts food on the table.

The exception to the freedom of servants is in the case of child servitude, which exists under the same rules and structure as free adult servitude but is functionally slavery due to the child's complete lack of legal autonomy. Their contracts CAN be ended at any time, but a child is under the legal control of their father - basically if their father denies to break the contract, they have no means of ending their servitude.

Boys are legally adults at 16 and can end their own contracts. It’s messier with girls, considered legally women upon menarche but still under ownership of their father until/unless a husband is found. Female child servants have a Degree of legal protection in which their father is required to either end their servitude upon menarche or has a year to arrange a marriage (also thereby ending it)- if these conditions are not met, the father is legally expected to end the contract, and the young woman has a right to contest his wishes if he does not. This is legally enforceable but very fraught in practice, given that women cannot self-represent in court and require a male representative, and a child servant can very easily be Prevented from acquiring or contacting one. (This difficulty does not apply in the same way to adult women servants, as they enter the contract under their own name and do not need a father/husband's permission to break it (though they are similarly more vulnerable to abuse than men due to their lack of legal autonomy))

Forms of child labor is culturally normalized and not everyone who participates in this system is personally malicious or cruel (note that this does not say "HAVING CHILD SERVANTS IS OKAY IF EVERYONE'S REAL NICEYS ABOUT IT"), and a young woman in this position Might be recognized by the person/institution they serve and given representation against their father in this fashion (especially given they likely socially outrank the girl's father). Forced servitude of adults (separate from the wholly accepted practices of indentured/prisoner slavery) is a punishable crime and widely considered reprehensible, which certainly doesn't mean it doesn't Happen, but does mean that the average person will not want to enable it (or at the very least will fear consequences) enough to prevent it if it's in their power to do so.

AVERAGE LIFE:

The average lower class person in Imperial Wardin is a urban agricultural laborer whose crops sustain their associated town or city. Their parents and grandparents most likely lived this way as well, and so will their children and grandchildren. They live on a tract of land and grow crops and/or herd and care for livestock owned by a nobleman they might never meet, and most of their output will go to these landowners and to the city/town/province they serve. A provincial official will come to their village at designated times during the harvest to oversee the collection and its division of their crop.

They are allotted a small amount of their output (crops, wool, etc) that, under normal conditions, should be sufficient to sustain themselves. If they produce a surplus, they can take it to the town or city to sell. It's ideal if they manage to purchase their own livestock (fowl are easily acquired, horses are fairly affordable, cattle are costly, owning a khait is a dream situation) to provide dairy, potentially grow their own herds, and maybe even produce enough to afford to slaughter their livestock for meat. They will also need to attempt to accumulate valuable goods and livestock for any of their daughters' dowries.

Their diet is very high in grain and very low in meat. In most parts of the region, maize will be the basis of the diet (and their likeliest crop), which will be consumed in nixtamalized form for better nutrition. Most of their protein will come from legumes and eggs. Any hunting or fishing on the land they live without express permission will be considered poaching, though some may dare to risk it. Foraging for wild plants is permissible, and this will supplement their diet.

In lean times, they bear a high risk of starvation, as their required output to give to their landowners/province remains the same. The nobles who own their land are expected to help keep them alive and give some of their own surplus back to their laborers if necessary, but this is less a legal obligation than one of honorable behavior, and may be partly or completely neglected. Most agricultural laborers experience at least mild starvation on a seasonal basis, and their year round diets are nutritionally poor.

If in proximity to their province's capital city, they likely face little dangers of raiding or predators, as the nearby roads are periodically patrolled by soldiers and most large predators have been extirpated from their land. The biggest animal-based danger will stem from crocodiles in the rivers in which they fetch water, and from snake bites. Agricultural pests are a much bigger threat to their livelihood, ranging from rodents and birds to (in some parts of the region) very aggressive and dangerous wild buffalo. Those adjacent to smaller towns may sometimes be troubled by raids, or find their livestock or themselves threatened by large predators (most commonly hyenas).

They most likely live in a village with other families, many of whom will serve the same nobility and all of whom serve the same province. Their village is likely run by a semi-official leader who retains the word 'chieftain', who is an agricultural laborer such as themself and functions as the primary go-between for the village and the provincial official collectors who come for their harvest (as well as a general leader and mediator). How this chieftain is decided and whether the position is (semi)hereditary or elected will vary by subculture.

Their style of home will vary regionally, but this is most commonly going to be a small mudbrick house with a straw roof. If they're an adult man, they likely live with their older mother and father (and any living grandparents) along with their wife and children, and any unmarried relatives. If they're a woman, they likely live with their husband's family in a similar setup (their own family may be in the same village, or may live further away).

The culturally idealized gendered division of labor is not fully attainable to them. The women in their family will do the majority of the endless task of textile labor, but the men will participate as well when they are not actively at other work. All members of the family will work in the fields, and mothers will carry their infants on their back as they do so.

Their clothing is typically limited, and consists mostly of what their family and community has produced itself. In hot seasonal temperatures, they will probably be wearing only a cloak, loincloth and sunveil (standard for women, optional for men), and walking barefoot or in basic sandals. They are diminishingly unlikely to own any weapons, and instead will carry a staff or use farming/herding equipment if self defense is needed.

They most likely live a short distance from a town, and a few days' journey at most from their province's capital city. As such, they have close access to religious centers and most likely practice a largely doctrinal version of the Faith of the Seven Faced God (with some folk-religious elements). Most will make the commute to their towns or cities for major festivals and holidays. Their lives and survival depend significantly on the fertility of the land, crops, and their livestock, and much of their religious practice will revolve around the agriculture-fertility oriented Faces Ganmache, Mitlamache, and Anaemache.

They are very unlikely to be literate, probably knowing key common logogram characters without being able to construct or read grammatical sentences. An education may be ostensibly attainable, as there will be free public schools for citizen commoner children in their province's capital city, but they likely have little motivation to send their child away for years to gain skills that will ultimately matter little in their line of work (and lose valuable help in the process). Most knowledge and life skills will be passed directly from parent to child.

The average Wardi agriculturalist has a difficult life, but has significantly more leisure time than the average wage laborer in a capitalist industrialized country. Their working day lasts only as long as it needs to (with the longest days being in the planting and harvesting season), and free time can be spent at rest (or at least the comparatively restful tasks of weaving and knitting). They are expressly exempt from labor on the majority of religious holidays (some lasting multiple days), as well as the third day in each solar calendar week (considered a day of rest to attend to the domestic sphere).

[probablyasocialecologist]

While the agricultural revolution based on the Norfolk four-course system significantly increased the production of wheat, peasants lost access to common lands and forests, where they used to raise pigs with acorns, collect mushrooms, woods and fruits, and catch birds. Living in the countryside, they also had access to the river to catch fish and for fresh water. Now driven into the city, they almost completely lost access to such natural wealth and could consume much less meat. Even if they remained in the countryside, their previous daily activities in the commons were now criminalized as acts of trespass and theft. Furthermore, enclosure concentrated lands in the hands of fewer capitalist farmers. As they hired peasants only during the busy season and fired them thereafter, the farming villages disappeared, and the small vegetable gardens maintained by the villagers ceased to provide fresh vegetables for their dinner tables. As it was no longer clear by whom and how the vegetables sold in the market were grown – they might, for example, be smeared with excreta of cattle and poultry – they became inedible without cooking, and fresh salads disappeared from the menu.

In addition, all family members had to work in the factories to make a living in the city. The loss of access to the commons significantly increased the financial burden on households because now they had to buy their means of subsistence from the market. They began working in factories from an early age, so children were not able to attend school. They could not acquire basic cooking skills at home or during the festivals and ceremonies of the farming villages, where they were served free and luxurious meals. Even if they acquired and maintained some cooking skills, working-class families in the city were no longer able to buy expensive meat and other ingredients but only the cheap potatoes that were sold on the street. Consequently, the traditional English recipes based on ingredients available to the rural villages became useless for working-class families living in the large cities.

Kohei Saito, Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism

[roman-golden-68]

( TF story 4 mah broz @golden-logan10, @scott-golden9 and @toxicafaesthetic) Zeus and Hercules were best buddies growing up. Coming from a small town in rural Texas, they grew up together as their families knew each other heavily. During Easter time, Zeus and Hercules would find shiny, golden eggs together as their families discussed grown-up topics, during the 4th of July they would salute the flag together and play with Roman Candles, but their favorite time together was when they played Football on Thanksgiving. Football soon became their bonding activity, for Hercules was exceptionally strong and made for a great Linebacker, while Zeus was Agile with a capital A and made for a great Wide receiver. They grow up playing football, growing to love the sport to the point of reaching the thresh hold of obsession, but they still had another dream; to travel to the United Kingdom after college. Time passed and they grew up, playing football first in Middle School and being the best players on the team. Then they went to High School and were immediately in first string Varsity. Eventually, during their senior year, they would end up as D1 athletes. As a result of working out and playing football for their entire youth, when they both blew out their candles on their shared 18th birthday, they were truly the strongest people in their small town. Alas, they had to leave the small town and head to a big city college, but they both managed to get to the same college on a sports scholarship. At college they were inseparable. Every class they shared, every schedule was the same, it was as if the gods above didn't want them to separate. They even were able to keep their same football positions on the college football team! Life was truly a dream, and yet they still had one wish left: to visit the United Kingdom. Time passed and they completed their classes. with great difficulty, and they were the posterchildren of the schools football team. They managed to graduate, and the College memorialized them with Hercules and Zeus in their gear posing.

Additionally, their families chose to send them tickets to fulfill their dreams. These shiny, golden tickets were a round trip to the United Kingdom! Hercules and Zeus partied that night, celebrating the fulfillment of their wish.

The next day rolls around, and they pack up their items and head off to the airport. Time passes, they go through security, they get their luggage put away, and they board the plane. Antsy with excitement and anticipation, they begin to sweat in their seats, having to open up their shirts. Unfortunately for the other passengers, they forgot to put on deodorant before getting on the plane, oops.

Anyways, the plane takes off during the sunrise, but little did Hercules and Zeus know, that they would not be returning home to the Texas.

.

.

.

They land in the glorious United Kingdom!

After getting through the airport, they decide to go sight seeing across the city of London. From riding the London eye to watching Big Ben tick away, they loved walking around the city.

However, Hercules and Zeus find themselves in the less developed parts of London after traveling all day. They find themselves taking a short-cut to make it back to the better parts of London. As they are walking through some dirty alleyways, they come across a large, in charge, and incredibly muscular Chav with the name Logan on his clothes. He smirks at Hercules and Zeus, who themselves get a weird vibe from the dude. It also doesn't help that he smells worse than they do, as if he doesn't know what deodorant is. The stranger introduces himself as Logan and asks them if they are in need of some cologne. Hercules and Zeus look at each other, and nod, for they know they do since they themselves left their own colognes at their hotel. The Chav, who introduces himself as Logan, smirks and extends his hand*

And in his hand is the cologne. It looks incredibly cheap and smelling odd, it still stirs the good smell receptors of Hercules and Zeus. They hand Logan some cash and take the cologne.

Logan walks away, stuffing the cash into his baggy pants, leaving Hercules and Zeus to look at the cologne. They both look at each other, and smile. Hercules uncaps the cologne, its smell wafting towards his nose and causing his brain cells to get a bit fuzzy. He then sprays himself and Zeus with the cologne, and puts the cap on again. They both sniff the air, and cough, finding that the cologne has a potent after smell that reeks of... unwashed armpits and jockstraps. They look at each other, worried that they were scammed into buying ineffective cologne.

Unfortunately for them, they did not.

At the same moment, both of their minds clench in an excruciating headache, as if their brain cells were exploding on mass inside their heads. They keel forward and grab their heads, both in pain. Unbeknownst to them however, they are starting to leak golden drool, which is their brain leaving through their mouth. They can only grunt and groan in discomfort and pain as the cologne, stuck and wafting from their skin, keeps flooding into their brains. it is exploding and getting rid of every ounce of brain cell it can find, wanting to purge the brains of the two jocks. Simultaneously, their bodies begin to change. Their muscles expand, the already well-developed coils of muscles flexing and expanding, starting to tear the seams of their clothes. Each muscle fiber ripping and straining, before expanding outwards in a mass growth effect. Their shredded clothes hang to their now overly muscular bodies as thick, blonde hairs sprout from their pits and nether regions. The dense, bushy, blonde hairs already begin to smell, as if they were unwashed and kept sweaty since Hercules and Zeus were 18. Additionally, their feet even tear their white sneakers, leaving them bare-foot!

However, not all is lost, for the headache begins to feel less painful... and actually more pleasurable, as most of the brain cells are completely gone, turned into golden drool that still leaks from their mouths. This pleasure only intensifies as their clothes begin to reform, but they are majorly different. The clothes are now shiny and golden stereotypical Chav clothes. The smell unwashed, and are kind of small, as if Hercules and Zeus never had enough Quid to properly replace their clothes. Their torn shoes soon turn into shiny, golden trainers that reek to the heavens of foot funk and caked sweat. Lastly, their once sizable meat-sticks and fruits expand within their now briefs, their meat-sticks turning into thick, juicy sausage as their fruits grow heavy and swollen with Golden and sticky Chav goo!

After all this, the two find themselves completely and utterly brainless, as the golden drool dries up due to no brain left in their now hollow heads. However, the Cologne fixes that, for it begins to rebuild their brains, but from the ground up. Gone are the former Texan football players, replaced by memories and personalities of two Chav Bruvs growing up in the outskirts of London. Their memories from their childhood are replaced too, for since they were of legal age, they were drinking cheap beer, smoking fags, working out, playing Footie, and being hyper-sexual fuck-bros. Additionally, their personalities change too. They find themselves extremely arrogant, aggressive, cocky, and dominant, with little care for those that aren't their bruvs. The cologne solidifies this by making them drool one gold one last time, and having their eyes turn into golden spirals, leaving their thick, juicy sausages leaking in their now golden and shiny clothes.

They start to chuckle, first softly, then they grab their thick bulges and chuckle like dopes. They look at each other, and smirk. Loving their new looks. For gone are the old Texan Hercules and Zeus, replaced by Chav versions of themselves.

They walk out of the alleyway, cologne in hand, and find Logan facing away from them. He is smirking however, having smelt the putrid musk of his new Chav bruvs a kilometer away. His face straightens as he extends his hand. He asks his new bruv's if they would like to join da chav life, and they smirk like complete idiots and nod their heads.

. . .

Times passes, and Logan, Hercules, and Zeus are all bruv's now. They drink beer. They smoke fags. They work out. They box. They play footie, although their large sizes tend to slow them down, they are hyper-sexual, and they smell each others stank daily! Hercules and Zeus, now nicknamed Chavules and Chavus, are sitting upon golden thrones in the Bruv house. They are going to meet a local gay bro who offered to sniff their trainers and worship their jockstraps, and they couldn't say no. No homo tho! They stare at the doors opposite their thrones, waiting impatiently, their sausages throbbing.

However, they don't wait long, for a knock is heard at the door. They smirk, and give each other a bruv-bump. Life is good now. Life is simple. Being a chav is easy. No thoughts. No worries. Only being a smelly, swole, and stinky Chav.

[useless-catalanfacts]

Hi. A question in relation to your response a few asks ago. As a leftist foreigner, I have always thought Catalonia and its independence movement have a cemented leftist core, but is that just me simply being an essentialist and simplifying the dynamics since the war? Of course, I understand that most Catalans, like most people, are just normal people living their lives and wanting health and happiness and not hard-core extremists either way. I'm half Palestinian and boy, am I tired of people painting us as inherently political when all we want to do is, you know, stay alive. But, I've always just imagined Catalonia as a stronghold for socialist and anarchist vibes. Is that off? And if it's not off, how come one Spanish narrative is that Catalans are bourgeois and capitalist has been so prominent? Like, what are they basing that on? The fact that Catalonia is a somewhat wealthy region? And how do leftists respond to that? Sorry for sensitive questions I'm just really intrigued by this. Sending all the love from one occupied people to another.

First of all, my most sincere best wishes for liberation and solidarity to you and all the Palestinian people 🇵🇸❤️

You are right, Catalonia is a stronghold of leftism. It can be seen easily in maps of election results every time there are Spanish elections, or polls, etc. Catalonia and Euskadi always stand out. This is so prominent that there's even a Twitter account called The F*ck*ing Same Map Again making fun of this, lol. And within the independence movement even more so, too. Historically, the Catalan independence movement has been very linked to communism, with presence of social democrats as well. Since around 2010, many more social democrats and liberals have joined, too. This is not to say that no other profile exists, as you pointed out you can't expect a whole country to have the same ideology, but it's overwhelmingly the case.

The reason why the Spanish left likes to stereotype Catalans as bourgeois (at the same time as, when it's more convenient to them, they also stereotype Catalan people and language as a poor rural farmers' language) comes from the fact that Catalonia (and to a lesser extent also the Basque Country) were the only places of the state of Spain that were industrialized during the Industrial Revolution and for most of the 20th century. This created a very prominent Catalan working class —for your ask, I assume you know about the CNT, the collectivizations, etc. To give an overview, in 1919 about ⅕ of ALL of Catalonia's population was affiliated to the CNT anarchist union, that is not counting people in the rural areas affiliated to unions for rural workers like Unió de Rabassaires that also sympatized with CNT in many matters but was more focused on agricultural workers. More than ⅕ of the whole country's population being a paying member of the anarchist union!— But, of course, industrialization also produced a muuuuuuuch smaller amount of bourgeoisie. While most Southern and Central Spain was still ruled by the aristocracy that owned most of the land and hired agricultural workers on a daily basis (jornaleros), in Catalonia there were bourgeois factory owners.

In the 1920s, many people came from rural areas of Spain to Barcelona and other urban areas of Catalonia (the population of Catalonia tripled with their arrival), and in the 1960s again the same (this migration tripled again Catalonia's population). In many places, the people who were arriving lived side by side with the people who were already there, usually learned Catalan and mixed with the population. But in some places around Barcelona, because there wasn't enough housing in the city for all the huge amount of people who were arriving, the regime (this was still under Franco's dictatorship) built "dormitory suburbs" where previously there was no town nor suburb. Areas that used to be fields suddenly were all built into cheap housing for the arriving Spanish workers, often with very bad conditions when it comes to public services. Thus, there were pockets of the newly-arrived population that lived in areas only created for them and only inhabited by people who had arrived at the same time as them. The result is that these workers only ever knew other Spanish immigrants, and the only Catalan people they ever met would be at their jobs when they commuted out of their dormitory suburbs into Barcelona's centre. This way, in these pockets of the population (which, of course, did not come free of Catalanophobia) the idea that everyday people spoke Spanish and the bosses and managers spoke Catalan was cemented.

(Obviously, I don't mean to say that everyone in those neighborhoods thought this, only that it was an idea that developed and spread to many people there. There were also people who did not see all the Catalan people as enemies and kept a good class analysis and allied with the Catalan working class and the Catalan people as an oppressed group. A famous example is the writer Paco Candel who lived in one of these new working class neighbourhoods and was an activist for the working class and also for Catalan language, cultural and political rights. I don't think it's been translated to English, but if anyone reading this wants to get a very good view of what the situation was like, the must-read is Paco Candel's 1964 book Els altres catalans).

The idea that "people like us" speak Spanish and bosses speak Catalan is, of course, objectively false. Since in every place capitalism needs more workers than bosses, the first proletariat of the state of Spain was Catalan, and the overwhelming majority of Catalans were and are working class. And the poorest areas of Catalonia are also the ones where Catalan is most spoken and Spanish is rarely heard (all of them in Terres de l'Ebre, a largely agricultural area). At the same time, Spanish has always remained the language of power, the only one spoken by the police, the army, the government, the public administration, etc and the one that rich people want to be heard speaking for prestige reasons. Even more so back then, when Catalan was prohibited and legally persecuted in many sectors. But despite being an overall false picture, it was the experience of these people day after day. The mix of already-present Catalanophobia with the "confirmation" of Catalan people being their enemies in the workplace created this very weird and very out-of-touch mentality of Catalan people being bourgeois in a small part of the Spanish speaking people, while for the vast majority the idea of still that speaking Catalan is for extremist antifascists and that it was a thread for the fascist state and for the very existence of Spain and thus needed to be erradicated. With time, after the dictatorship ended and the democracy period started (1978), the Spanish left was legalized (Catalan independentist parties would take a while yet, because it was said that "Catalan separatists are more dangerous than the communists", but in some time ended up legalized as well, except for some Basque parties that have been illegal until the 21st century) and a part of the Spanish left instrumentalized Catalanophobia to gain votes in some circles, so they used this rhetoric and it spread more, because it gave them a justification that used the right words to sound vaguely leftist and they don't have to question their beliefs nor prejudices.

I hope this answers your question. Thank you very much for your interest and your solidarity, it's greatly appreciated.

[niiwa-angel]

I'm going to say something wildly unpopular in the Radfem community, but IDC, because I think it needs saying.

This little fantasy a lot of Radfems women have about whipping up a group of women, buying a plot of land, and living off it in the name of separatism is a fairytale at best and a dangerous endeavour at worst. My family lives off grid in rural Canada, it's no fucking picnic. First of all, it costs thousands of dollars for solar panels and they don't collect as much power as you'd think, especially in wooded areas. We put them on top of buildings and in fields for a reason and it's because if there are shadows across them, they don't get as much power. Winters are also hard because the days are shorter and the sun is weaker, so in most places, you'll be reliant on a generator for power in the winter.

Now I hear what you're saying "but Angel! We'll have wind turbines too!" Fantastic, and how are you going to maintain them? Those massive white ones you see in fields are out of most people's price ranges and the smaller ones are at risk of being damaged by debris during rough winds or a storm. Which is fine, if it's not your only power supply, but if you're dependent on it, that's a problem.

Now let's move on to other things, because that's important. How are you going to live off the land? Farm it? Raise animals? Hunt? How are you going to pay for the equipment you'll need to farm crops or butcher livestock? How are you going to feed the livestock? My family has goats and chickens, those mother fuckers eat A LOT and it isn't cheap. How are you going to pasteurize the milk you get from animals? What's your plan if your crop fails, how do you feed your group?

How about buildings? First of all, how do you plan to get permits to build? Just because you own the land doesn't mean you can do whatever you want on it, you need to talk to Conservation, Zoning, and your municipality before you break ground and that can take months or even years. How do you plan on getting the buildings up? Do you know how much heavy machinery costs to rent? Do you know how much building supplies cost? What's your plan if something goes wrong, because it can. Do you have the skills needed to operate the type of heavy machinery used in construction? Do you have the safety training to minimize the likelihood of someone getting hurt or killed?

How are you going to take care of yourselves? Remember, you won't be going forever, what happens when you physically can't work the fields anymore? What happens when you need regular treatment for your ailments? Farming and construction are hard jobs, they take a toll on the body. Do you go to the doctors outside of your group, or do you hope that the medical knowledge any members of your group brought with them 5, 10, 15 years ago is still accurate? That they still remember how to perform those treatments? How will you get equipment if you need it brought home, can your power grid even support it?

What are you going to do about sewage? The septic tank will get full eventually, who do you call to empty it? Can you afford to get it emptied with all the other expenses you have? What if your septic tank needs replacing? Who do you call to do that, can you afford to do it yourself? If you can do it yourself, what do you do with the broken tank?

What about money, how are you going to fund this operation, because that'll be a big one. If you want farmable land, you're going to need to buy land with fertile soil, which can be insanely expensive, then in top of it, you'll need seeds, fertilizer, farming equipment, fencing, storage containers like silos, and labour, none of which is cheap. And all of which needs to be purchased repeatedly, such as seeds and fertilizer, or needs to be maintained, such as silos and farm equipment. How do you plan on upholding those costs?

How do you ensure that your farming community doesn't just die out after 1 generation? How will you recruit new members? How can you make people want to come work for you? Can you afford to make it worth their while?

Listen, I understand wanting to build your own community and I'm not necessarily knocking that. What I am saying is, let's be realistic here. Trying to remove yourself completely from society is not a solution, not a long term one at least. If you want to empower yourself and other women, you need to actually fight to make a better society.

Get a degree in something useful, like chemistry, biology, social work, nursing, teaching, etc, and then volunteer with educational programs for girl children and adolescents. Take on female apprentices and teach them what you know! If you have a degree in something like Early Childhood Education and are working at or run a daycare, reach out to your local women's shelter and offer to take in some of the young children there, free of charge, so their mothers don't have to worry about childcare while job/house hunting. If you get a medical doctorate, do research on female specific illnesses, apply for study grants and make yourself heard!

If you work in Social Work, focus on women! Make women's only addiction recovery, homeless services, housing services, and long term care services! If you want to get a job in agriculture, do it, and then take on female apprentices! If you're in a trade, volunteer some of your time to women's shelters teaching women the basics of home maintenance and repair, as well as servicing the shelter. They often struggle for funding and if you'll redo their roof for the cost of materials, or can fix some plumbing issues, that takes a load of their plate! If you're in an office setting, team up with your fellow women and push for more wages and promotions, build each other up!

You will have to fight for these, and that's okay! Do you think the first Suffragettes just gave up when it got hard, hopped on a boat, and found an uninhabited island to make a commune on? NO! They stayed and they fought, and it was hard, and they were ridiculed and judged but because of them, women can vote today, we can own property!

Being a woman in society is hard but the solution is not to run off and live like pioneers with no sustainability! The solution is to dig out heels in, and push for a better society so that women tomorrow don't have to.

[skjam]

Pulptober 2024 Day 6: Steve Canyon/Adventures in Foreign Lands

One of the big attractions of pulp literature back in the day was vicarious tourism. Average reader Joe Blow might be stuck in rural Iowa for probably the rest of his life, barring another war. But he could read about all the strange faraway places and exotic women and peculiar customs he'd never see in the cheap magazines with lurid covers.

Were they often poorly researched, containing unfortunate stereotypes and sometimes outright racism? Yes, yes, they were. But communications were slower, National Geographic subscriptions were expensive, and the odds of Joe Blow running into anyone who knew better about a particular faraway corner of the world were slim. And isn't the fantasy what these stories were meant to sell?

And then there were the comic strips. Milton Caniff had created Terry and the Pirates, primarily set in China and East Asia, while Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy by Roy Crane did more globetrotting. During World War Two the casts of both strips joined the United States military. Crane had already tired of the syndicate's demands and jumped ship to create his wholly-owned Buz Sawyer, which initially starred a Navy aviator.

After the war, Buz Sawyer started working as a troubleshooter for an American oil company, which allowed Crane to go back to globetrotting stories. Caniff, seeing how well this worked and wanting a creator-owned strip of his own, created Steve Canyon. The title character was a former Army Air Force pilot who'd gone into business as an air transport small business, so got to fly all over the world.

This review is of his 1948 adventures, still early in the history of the strip.

And let's look at a magazine of such stories, with the now unfortunate title of Oriental Stories. It covered adventures from all over the exotic East, from Palestine to Indonesia. This issue even has a Robert E. Howard tale!

https://www.skjam.com/2023/04/16/magazine-review-oriental-stories-winter-1932/

[lost-technology]

Something I found randomly on Youtube that was like catnip to me because I was all "THIS IS WHERE I GREW UP!" Technically, I grew up outside of Phoenix, in a rural area (below the Gila River, a stone's throw of it, crossed it driving to get anyywhere). Sometimes, it even had water! (I am serious. It only sometimes had water more than a dog pee stream by the time it hit my area). And, yes, I have many a tactic for coping with heat - at least when the heat isn't too humid). I visited my family last year and... wow, yeah, the growth has been... alarming. (It's actually caused a homeless problem as people in cheap housing have gotten their homes and lands bought out by industry and rich people). Back when I was growing up there, it was mostly just new exclusive communities being built, making their damn lawns and golf courses and fake-lakes that people in the nearby sticks (my family) were not allowed to swim or fish in because it was only for the rich people in the community. Did I mention I hate rich people? (I know that people are not supposed to be bigoted, but I think that this is one bigotry that I am allowed. It started early). The gentrification of the area has really messed up the already messed up environment there with the groundwater. (My family subsisted on groundwater). Anyway, this video goes into a deep dive not only about the history of the desert part of Arizona, but also the engineering challenges and how people are essentially TERRAFORMING it. I grew up with a front row seat with all of the farming and irrigation canals, but there's even other things. ( I was once commissioned to do ads when I worked at a newspaper out there for a startup company that was trying to FARM SHRIMP in the desert. Desert Sweet Shrimp). Yes, people in AZ are that brain-baked by the sun and that crazy. I thought a look into this (a "yeeeep, this explains my childhood home") might be of interest to anyone who does fanfiction for Trigun in terms of worldbuilding ideas. Just switch out rivers for secret underground No Man's Land water and Hydro-Plants pushed to their limits and you've got yourself some straggling survivors trying to do the old Project SEEDS dream on an inhospitable planet in a monument to man's arrogance.

[apxnproperty]

Where to Find the Best Cheap Land for Sale in Arizona

Arizona, known for its stunning desert landscapes and expansive open spaces, offers great opportunities for those looking to invest in property. Whether you’re looking for cheap land for sale in Arizona, a rural retreat, or an investment opportunity, this state has something to offer everyone. With its warm climate, breathtaking views, and relatively affordable property prices, Arizona continues to be a top destination for land buyers.

Why Choose Arizona for Land Investment?

Arizona offers a diverse range of landscapes, from rolling deserts to lush forests, making it ideal for those looking to own land. The state's unique beauty attracts those seeking peace, solitude, and adventure. Additionally, Arizona’s affordable land prices and growing economy make it a great investment for individuals and businesses alike.

Benefits of Buying Land in Arizona

Affordability: Arizona is known for offering land at lower prices compared to other states.

Diverse Geography: Whether you’re looking for desert views or forested areas, Arizona offers it all.

Investment Potential: With increasing demand for land, especially in rural areas, property in Arizona can appreciate in value.

Versatility: Arizona's land is perfect for building a home, starting a farm, or even creating an off-grid retreat.

Explore Rural Land for Sale in Arizona

If you’re seeking a more secluded lifestyle, rural land for sale in Arizona could be your perfect match. These properties offer the peace and tranquility many desire, along with the opportunity to enjoy the natural beauty of the state. Whether it’s for a homestead, vacation property, or personal getaway, Arizona’s rural areas provide an ideal setting.

Popular regions for rural land include:

Apache County: A quiet area with scenic views and affordable property.

Navajo County: A diverse landscape perfect for those who love the outdoors.

Arizona Land for Sale: The Perfect Investment

Arizona is a land of opportunity, and there is a variety of Arizona land for sale to suit your needs. From small plots ideal for a weekend getaway to larger parcels suitable for agricultural use or commercial development, Arizona offers endless possibilities for land ownership.

When purchasing land in Arizona, it’s crucial to work with a trusted partner to help you find the best deals and ensure a smooth transaction process.

Conclusion

Whether you’re looking for cheap land for sale in Arizona, seeking rural land for sale in Arizona, or interested in exploring the many opportunities in Arizona land for sale, there’s something for everyone in this diverse state. Start your journey today, and secure your own piece of Arizona’s natural beauty and potential!

[alwaysaffordableland]

When it comes to investing in real estate, Ocala is one of the best places to do it. However, when it comes to real estate transactions, Ocala isn’t the easiest place to find investment properties to buy and sell. Real estate transactions take a lot of time, money, and legal documents to complete. If you are looking for Ocala investment properties to buy or sell, check out this beautiful listing from Always Affordable Land. Get the best deal on Ocala Land for Sale.

[docholligay]

Today I Baled Some Hay to Feed the Sheep the Coyotes Eat by Bill Stockton

I feel weird talking about this one because it hits close to home for me. It's a pretty straightforward and short kind of rural memoir about sheep farming, rife with appreciation for the land and weather and the difficulties and pain of the work, and the tormenting frustration of ranching in general. Reading it I thought so much about how rural people are painted as stupid or unfeeling, while reading his thoughts.

Which I think are just more straightforward.

Stockton doesn't beat around the bush much. He ends the book with a polemic against the factory-style making of food, and how he hopes every city person who supports all that would understand that meat is an expensive product to make, and they may come to regret the technological world they've created and thinking of the people who raised sheep and cattle in the sunshine as expendable hicks. he predicts people will eat more vegetables, because they'll have to, but I think more than 40 years ago, Bill could not have seen how fully people would divorce the idea of animal welfare and the desire for cheap meat. I don't think he quite understood how content people would be so long as they didn't have to see it.

But also he has an immense amount of tenderness for the idea of sheep, and for sheep in general, and much of the book is a defense of them, and of a rural way of life. I really loved it.

[fatehbaz]

Ecologies of Imperialism in Algeria, by Brock Cutler, begins with an account of food poisoning in nineteenth-century French Algeria. A deep rural crisis of drought and famine in the late 1860s had reduced the amount of fuelwood coming into the city of Algiers, leading one baker to use construction debris shipped to the colony from Paris to fire his bread oven in early 1869. The lead paint on that metropolitan rubble, product of Baron Haussmann’s transformation of the French capital, became a toxic element in the bread that sickened settlers in the colony. The author [...] treats this small episode as a microcosm of the divides, the unruly circulations, and the nonhuman actants and processes that characterized the early decades of colonial rule in Algeria, which the French invaded in 1830.

These divisions and circulations include those between metropole and colony, between modern and not modern, between person and environment, between human and nonhuman, and across the colonial frontier with Tunisia. [...]

---

The first [of three major narrative veins in Cutler's study involves] [...] bread [...], the consumption of wheat grown on the Mediterranean plains of Algeria [...]. The toxic bread affair of 1869, however, was a reminder that the distance between metropole and colony was not so great. [...] The second vein examines the production of new ecosystem relations [...]. [T]he violence of decades of uneven conquest and the confiscation, appropriation, and enclosure of land and its reorientation toward regional and international [European] markets between 1830 and 1870 thoroughly destabilized rural Algerian life. This fragility turned lethal in the final years of the 1860s, when a series of environmental crises - locust plagues and drought - caused widespread famine and ultimately the deaths of up to eight hundred thousand Algerians. [...] The emptied land and cheap labor that were outcomes of the environmental crises enabled [France] to complete the capitalist transformation of rural Algeria [...]. Another outcome of the environmental crisis was an increase in the number of rural Algerians migrating to cities, where they were perceived as both a threat to public order and a reservoir of potential labor energy. [...]

[D]ivisionary logics, including the line between city and countryside and the modern gendered subject, were being performed, produced, and reproduced in the context of environmental crisis.

---

[Another] major element [in Cutler's scholarship] [...] is an exploration of the complex politics of policing French Algeria’s eastern border with Tunisia, in the era before French colonial rule began in the latter polity in 1881. [...] [T]his border, officially demarcated in 1846, was only integrated into local ecosystem relations over the course of subsequent decades. Repeated performance of sovereignty through patrols and taxation of pastoral communities that lived and worked in the frontier commons instantiated the border, but the border region remained resistant to the forms of modern statecraft, such as standardization, bureaucratization, and written transactions, that French authorities preferred. [...] [Cutler] draws on intentionally “mundane” examples to show how they were critical to the steady reproduction of a modern imperial border (p. 47). [...] [A specific] episode of transborder [dispute] [...] in 1869 [...] became a referndum within the settler community on the virtues of military rule and a reminder for that [European] community of [supposed] indigenous incompatability with modernity. [...]

[T]he various divisions illuminated by the story - between modern and not, between inside and outside, and between European and Algerian - were performances staged at various times and places, not eternal features of the society or landscape. The repetition of “divisionary logics,” in the author’s telling, were at the heart of French colonial modernity (p. 149). [...]

---

[T]horough reading of the French colonial archive, from official sources as well as memoirs, newspapers, and periodicals [...], [t]he first two narrative threads, on bread and disaster, demonstrate the significance of moments of crisis [...] in actually changing the course of history [...] [and] longer-term [...] ecological transformations. The other thread, however, examines how the mundane performance of modern sovereign power and its divisionary logics, over time, made real or even naturalized the new imperial frontier between Algeria and Tunisia. Both [...] society-wide crises or the steady performance of the mundane logics of power [...].

---

All text above by: Jackson Perry. "Review of Cutler, Brock. Ecologies of Imperialism in Algeria". H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. April 2024. Published online at: h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59842. [Text within brackets added by me for clarity. Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]