Page 98 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 98
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
Introduction
The starting point of this paper is the revisited concept of integrated pea-
sant economy.1 According to the definition suggested by Aleksander Pan
jek, peasant economy is studied in light of the fact that it coexists with other
activities, not always interchangeable, which allow it to integrate to diffe-
rent extents with the proceeds deriving from agriculture or which even ge-
nerate a surplus beyond basic subsistence.
The underlying hypothesis is that not all socio-economic environ-
ments enable the development of an integrated peasant economy. In partic-
ular, we believe that a suitable environment might be one where the popula-
tion enjoys a higher degree of personal freedom and where a larger number
of people are able to make autonomous decisions. Personal freedom and
autonomy allows us, in concurrence with a change in economic conditions,
to modulate activities and production in a faster, and therefore more effec-
tive way to face new, unforeseen situations.
We would like to test this concept in different areas of the Friuli prov-
ince during the Venetian period. First of all, we will identify the plain and
the mountains as the two environments where the different impact of the
integrated peasant economy can be analysed. We will then investigate on
which level it is possible to talk about an integrated peasant economy: re-
gion, village, family. Finally, we will attempt to outline the solutions of the
integrated peasant economy to economic crisis and to the economy’s trans-
formation.
1. Villages on the plain versus villages in the mountains
In this section we describe the two contexts we intend to analyse, that is the
plain and the mountains, and we attempt to understand which one might
be more favourable to the development of the integrated peasant economy.
On the Friulian plain, agriculture was unequivocally predominant
compared to any other economic activity. In the villages, the property of
the land was strongly concentrated in the hands of a scarce number of ab-
sent aristocrat families. The administration of the land was entrusted to
landholders, who relied primarily on exploiting the workforce rather than
on investments in the production. Production was based on the subordi-
nation of farmers, often farm hands without any land, to farm conductors.
1 Panjek 2015.The essay deals with the Slovenian context. Among its references to the
Italian Alpine areas it refers to – and integrates – Coppola 1989 and 1991.
96
Introduction
The starting point of this paper is the revisited concept of integrated pea-
sant economy.1 According to the definition suggested by Aleksander Pan
jek, peasant economy is studied in light of the fact that it coexists with other
activities, not always interchangeable, which allow it to integrate to diffe-
rent extents with the proceeds deriving from agriculture or which even ge-
nerate a surplus beyond basic subsistence.
The underlying hypothesis is that not all socio-economic environ-
ments enable the development of an integrated peasant economy. In partic-
ular, we believe that a suitable environment might be one where the popula-
tion enjoys a higher degree of personal freedom and where a larger number
of people are able to make autonomous decisions. Personal freedom and
autonomy allows us, in concurrence with a change in economic conditions,
to modulate activities and production in a faster, and therefore more effec-
tive way to face new, unforeseen situations.
We would like to test this concept in different areas of the Friuli prov-
ince during the Venetian period. First of all, we will identify the plain and
the mountains as the two environments where the different impact of the
integrated peasant economy can be analysed. We will then investigate on
which level it is possible to talk about an integrated peasant economy: re-
gion, village, family. Finally, we will attempt to outline the solutions of the
integrated peasant economy to economic crisis and to the economy’s trans-
formation.
1. Villages on the plain versus villages in the mountains
In this section we describe the two contexts we intend to analyse, that is the
plain and the mountains, and we attempt to understand which one might
be more favourable to the development of the integrated peasant economy.
On the Friulian plain, agriculture was unequivocally predominant
compared to any other economic activity. In the villages, the property of
the land was strongly concentrated in the hands of a scarce number of ab-
sent aristocrat families. The administration of the land was entrusted to
landholders, who relied primarily on exploiting the workforce rather than
on investments in the production. Production was based on the subordi-
nation of farmers, often farm hands without any land, to farm conductors.
1 Panjek 2015.The essay deals with the Slovenian context. Among its references to the
Italian Alpine areas it refers to – and integrates – Coppola 1989 and 1991.
96
