Find a way to be a peasant

• Main Authors: Jia-lynn Wu, 吳佳玲
• Other Authors: none
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2015
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/69760308698084833147

碩士 === 世新大學 === 社會發展研究所(含碩專班) === 103 === Since the Japanese colonial period, Taiwanese peasants have started to deal with the market, producing for the market instead of self sufficiency. Nevertheless, figuring out how the complex changing market determines the price of farming produce has always been a challenge to peasants. Unable to influence the market, peasants have to well employ their available and accessible resources in order to overcome every difficulty. It is the mutual and reciprocal relationship based on peasants' social networks that would help them facing unpredictable market changes. The research focuses on the author's action research, farming and living, in a rural village. At first, when the author started her farming, she tried hard to blend into the social network in this village, getting involved in the community. However, due to the author's identity as a newcomer, which did not belong to this place , it was not easy to get access to (or hire) agricultural resources, land for example in this case. Only through community interactions did the author finally get land for farming. Later, the closer the author gets to the core of rurality, the more unknown she finds out about rural relationships and working methods within human interactions. Even though the author herself grew up in rural areas, she could not fully understand the hidden rules behind the rural society. What's more, for a young peasants like the author, the surrounding social expectation forces her to constantly review herself for why to farm and what to do.