Marcus Taylor
Phone: 613-533-6000, ext 77655
Email: marcus.taylor@queensu.ca
Fax: 613-533-2986
Mac Corry Hall A404
Global Development Studies
Queen's University
Kingston, ON K7L 3N6
Office hours:
By Appointment
Political Ecology : Agriculture and Agrarian Studies : Labour and Livelihoods : Climate Change
My research analyses the complex social and ecological forces that are reshaping contemporary agrarian regions in an era of political economic turbulence and climatic change. Working in the field of political ecology, I explore the dynamic interplay between government policies, food production, environmental change and rural livelihoods. My current SSHRC-funded research applies this approach to the transformation of rice production in contemporary Asia, including active field research in semi-arid India. Based on interviews with farmers, labourers, agricultural officers and policy makers, I examine how differential access to land, water, labour and credit shapes who can implement and benefit from new methods of rice intensification.
Prior to this project, my previous book The Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation (Routledge 2015) provided the first systematic critique of the concept of climate change adaptation within the field of international development. Earlier published work explored themes in the political economy of development including labour and global commodity chains; labour markets, social policy and anti-poverty policies in Latin America; and the promises and pitfalls of microfinance as a development tool.
I welcome graduate students interested in studying any aspect of the social, political and environmental forces shaping contemporary agriculture and the associated impacts upon food security and rural livelihoods. Additionally, I continue to supervise widely in the areas of political ecology and political economy; labour in the global economy; livelihoods and anti-poverty poverty policies.
Cross Appointed to the Department of Sociology and the School of Environmental Studies
DEVS 250: Global Environmental Transformations
DEVS 802: The Cultural Politics of Development
Books
Taylor, Marcus and Sébastien Rioux (2017) Global Labour Studies. London: Polity Press.
Taylor, Marcus (2015) The Political Ecology of Climate Change Adaptation: Livelihoods, Agrarian Change and the Conflicts of Development. London: Routledge Press.
Taylor, Marcus (2006). From Pinochet to the 'Third Way': Neoliberalism and Social Transformation in Chile. London: Pluto Press.
Edited Books
Taylor, Marcus (ed). Renewing International Labour Studies. London: Routledge Press, 2010.
Taylor, Marcus (ed). Global Economy Contested: Power and Conflict Across the International Division of Labour. London: Routledge Press, 2008.
Selected Articles (see CV for full list)
Taylor, Marcus and Suhas Bhasme (2018) “Model Farmers, Extension Networks and the Politics of Agricultural Knowledge Transfer”, Journal of Rural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2018.09.015
Taylor, Marcus and Suhas Bhasme (2018) “The Political Ecology of Rice Intensification in South India: Putting SRI in its Places”, forthcoming Journal of Agrarian Change. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12268
Taylor, Marcus (2018) “Climate-smart Agriculture: What is it Good For?”, Journal of Peasant Studies, 45(1), pp. 89-107.
Taylor, Marcus (2016) “Risky Ventures: Financial Inclusion, Risk Management and the Uncertain Rise of Index-Based Insurance”, Review of Political Economy, vol. 31, pp. 237 – 266.
