Joëlle Zask, La Démocratie aux Champs

Urban Farm DB summary

A review of French philosopher Joëlle Zask's book "La Démocratie aux Champs," which argues against the prejudice that democratic ideals essentially grow out of and thrive in big cities and are antithetical to agricultural life. It notes that both in nineteenth-century Europe and in the contemporary United States, peasants have widely been seen as conservative, bigoted and apolitical, while urban residents are typically seen as more progressive and politically minded. Against this view, and against an alternative romanticized picture of an idyllic rural world, Zask argues that the values and practices associated with democratic freedom "primarily come... from the farm" (p. 7), with "farm" understood broadly to encompass different kinds of agriculture, including urban community gardens, rather than being restricted to the peasant lifeworld.