VOICES OF THE FARMERS IN AGRARIAN DISTRESS: GROUNDED THEORIZING FOR COMMUNICATION FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Abstract

This dissertation adopts the culture centered approach (CCA) to communication to contribute to the field of communication for social change. Committed to listening to the voices of the farmers, the thesis employs ethnographic methodology for generating insights from the ground in dialogue with the farming community amid the severe agrarian crisis. The insights emerging from the research interrogate the dominant development narrative of high-yield agricultural practices introduced in the agricultures of the Global South as a pro-poor solution. The co-construction of the narratives of agrarian crisis reveal the multiple layers of structures that a CCA researcher has to work through to open the spaces for listening to the voices of the subaltern populations among the farming community. The role of the researcher in constituting the praxis of change within the CCA framework rests in interrogating co-optation of the subaltern voices. Collectivized articulations are a transformative communicative tool within the CCA.