RURAL WORKERS AND THE ROLE OF THE RURAL IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH FOOD RIOTING

No form of English popular protest has been subject to such close scholarly analysis as the eighteenth-century food riot, a response not just to the understanding that food riots comprised two out of every three crowd actions but also to the influence of E. P. Thompson's seminal paper ‘The moral economy of the English crowd’. If the food riot is now understood as an event of considerable complexity, one assertion remains unchallenged: that riots remained a tradition of the towns, with agrarian society all but unaffected by food rioting. This article offers a new interpretation in which the rural is not just the backdrop to food protests but instead a locus and focus of collective actions over the marketing of provisions, with agricultural workers taking centre stage. It is shown that agricultural workers often took the lead in market town riots as well as well as in instigating riots in the countryside. Further, such episodes of collective protest were neither rare nor unusual but instead formed an integral part of the food rioting repertoire. It is also shown that rural industrial workers – notoriously active in market town riots – were often joined or even led by agricultural workers in their protests.

Rome: Empire, City, and Church

Chapter 2 describes the Roman Empire in the fourth and early fifth centuries and important emperors of the period. Among imperial reforms was the introduction of a new form of coinage, the gold solidus. The chapter introduces the emperor Honorius’ important general of the western imperial troops, Stilicho, and his wife, Serena, who will figure in Melania and Pinian’s attempts at divestment. It describes the life of cities in that era, especially the city of Rome, and the role of Christianization in changing its urban landscape. Rome’s inhabitants were dependent on food brought from elsewhere and distributed to them by a system called the annona; disruption of the supply could lead to food riots, one of which plays a role in the couple’s attempts to divest. The building of churches and martyr shrines in and around Rome, importantly spurred by the emperor Constantine and his family in the early fourth century, later often became a cooperative venture between bishops (especially Damasus) and local elites. The cult of Saint Lawrence plays a significant role in the life of Melania: at his shrine or church, Pinian was persuaded to adopt a life of ascetic renunciation with her.

Privatizing the Commons: Protest and the Moral Economy of National Resources in Jordan

This article interrogates the social impact of one aspect of structural adjustment in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: privatization. In the mid-2000s, King Abdullah II privatized Jordan's minerals industry as part of the regime's accelerated neoliberal project. While many of these privatizations elicited responses ranging from general approval to ambivalence, the opaque and seemingly corrupt sale of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) in 2006 was understood differently, as an illegitimate appropriation of Jordan's national resources and, by extension, an abrogation of the state's (re-) distributive obligations. Based on interviews with activists, I argue that a diverse cross-section of social movement constituencies – spanning labour and non-labour movements (and factions within and across those movements) – perceived such illegitimate privatizations as a moral violation, which, in turn, informed transgressive activist practices and discourses targeting the neoliberal state. This moral violation shaped the rise and interaction of labour and non-labour social movements in Jordan's “Arab uprisings”, peaking in 2011–2013. While Jordan's uprisings were largely demobilized after 2013, protests in 2018 and 2019 demonstrate the continued relevance of this discourse. In this way, the 2011–2013 wave of protests – and their current reverberations – differ qualitatively from Jordan's earlier wave of “food riots” in 1989 (and throughout the 1990s), which I characterize as primarily restorative in nature.

Not Such a Bargain

Despite general approval for an operation at the Dardanelles, it was not at all clear what exactly had been decided on January 28—or rather what a decision actually meant when situation was evolving so quickly. Throughout February 1915, Admiral Fisher implored certain members of the War Council to reconsider. Other options for British strategic policy remained in play, especially the previous decision for an offensive in the Balkans. Meanwhile, fear of social unrest in India caused the Indian government to embargo the export of wheat, placing further upward pressure on wheat prices and heightening concerns over food riots in Britain. As confusion reigned in London, the Royal Navy commenced its attack at Dardanelles. Overly optimistic assessments from the admiral in command caused London to expect victory within weeks. A deterioration in Russia’s military position added further urgency to the operation.

Vulnerabilities in Russian Agriculture to Climate Change

Russia’s agricultural sector has experienced a significant rebound in production since 2000, becoming the leading wheat exporter in the world in six of the past agricultural years. Not only has Russia’s role in the international food trade system become more important, as the world’s population continues to increase Russia grain will become even more significant, especially to politically volatile regions where food riots have contributed to pressures for regime change. While analysts are cognizant of the effects of climate change and impacts on Russian agricultural production, little thought has been given to the pathways for a transition from industrial agriculture. The article identifies four vulnerabilities to the agricultural sector from climate change in the world and in Russia. The article discusses the dislocations that may occur during a transition from industrial agriculture. The final section considers alternative models for moving away from industrial agriculture, concluding that the market-driven approach in which private industry leads the transition by “going green” is the most politically viable in Russia.

Riots and resources: How food access affects collective violence

How does food access affect the mobilization of collective violence? The upsurge in rioting in 2008 drew broad attention to the relationship of food and conflict, as scholars and policymakers sought to understand the mobilization and variation of rioting events. Studies have shown a robust relationship between conflict and food prices, noting an increase in incidents of violent conflict during times of high global prices. This study furthers the theory on the role of food access in riot mobilization, investigating the mechanisms by which changes in food access translate into collective violence. Using detailed, first-hand accounts of rioting in 2007 and 2008, this study investigates the motives and grievances of the community members where riots occurred and the relationship of those grievances to food access, while contrasting these accounts to communities that did not engage in rioting. In the cases presented, a change in food access motivated protest and violence involving existing grievances rather than explicitly addressing food access. In this way, food changed the meaning and severity of existing grievances. The cases studied add to our understanding of concurrent upsurges in food riots by outlining the ways that food access interacts with local contexts to initiate violent conflict, stressing the presence of existing actors who use decreased food access to mobilize resources to address existing grievances. While media accounts highlighted food access as the primary concern of food rioters, this study argues that many ‘food riots’ were not, in fact, directly motivated by food access. Rather, changes to food access can aid in mobilizing protests around a range of grievances, some unrelated to food access. Efforts to address the causes of food-related instability will be unsuccessful if they focus solely on food access without addressing the primary motivating grievance and understanding how food access relates to that grievance.

Food

This chapter discusses the ways that the North and South provided food for their armies and civilians, and the difficulties they encountered. The South struggled mightily to provide enough food for its residents, while the North thoroughly succeeded, thanks to several innovations in harvesting, canning, and transporting food. Southern farmers proved unable to provide enough food because of fields ruined by the weather, Union occupation, or confiscation by both armies. Food riots broke out throughout the South as a result of the shortages, and the government tried to respond with various relief measures. The chapter discusses the role of food in the second battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, and especially the devastating use of food (or its lack) as a weapon during the siege of Vicksburg. It discusses the effects of starvation faced by the soldiers and civilians in that besieged city in the summer of 1863.