agrarianism

Dr. Laurie Johnson is a political philosopher and professor of political science at Kansas State University where she specialized in political theory and ideologies. Our discussion ranges several topics including American politics and the implications of agrarianism on home and community. 

Laurie's webpage: LaurieMJohnson.com
Laurie's YouTube channel: Political Philosophy

Helga Vierich is a four-field anthropologist from Albert, Canada who studied hunter-gatherers and agrarian societies in the Kalahari. We talk about traditional social structures and the lessons that can be gleaned from those societies. 

John Ikerd is Professor Emeritus of Agricultural & Applied Economics at the University of Missouri. In this episode we discuss the importance of small farms to the health of society and the economy.

James Howard Kunstler recently returned from the 18th Annual Congress for the New Urbanism. Agrarian urbanism was a hot topic among many New Urbanists at the Congress and in this episode Kunstler takes the time to explore the topic of food production in cities. Rising energy prices and poor growing weather may lead to global food shortages, but JHK believes that the idea of feeding the U.S. population with rooftop gardens and skyscraper terrariums is absurd. Gardening and even raising certain animals in the city was a normal part of urban life before World War II and we may see a return of some of those practices. But Kunstler believes that it is important to cut through some of the fantasies to figure out what's really possible. We must also be careful not to confuse the urban with the rural.