Adam Pain
Biographic Data
| ID | 630397 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Adam Pain |
| GIVEN NAMES | Adam |
| FAMILY NAME | Pain |
| SIGNATURE | PAIN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2253-0008 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 36 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Labour and landscape husbandry in the Nepali mid hills
Dancing with Uncertainty in the Himalayas in Times of Multiple Crises
Based on the life histories of 10 poor rural Nepalese, the article, drawing on the metaphor of dance, explores the structured improvisations of these individuals in response to the hazards and possibilities they have found in life. Key themes of repertoires and risk pools, time preference behaviour and disposition or hope are explored. While land remains central to risk pools, contributing to subsistence and security, it is insufficient. The impr…
Between necessity and compulsion
Drawing on long-term fieldwork in Badakhshan, a borderland province in the northeast of Afghanistan, the paper explores the role that opium poppy cultivation has played in a marginal high-altitude economy. Framed by the analytic of 'narco-frontiers' and the puzzle of the persistence of small farmers in uneven agrarian transitions, the paper investigates the diversity of market and non-market institutions that operate across the means of productio…
Entangled lives
This article, focussing on Badakhshan province in north-east Afghanistan, explores the lifeworld of drugs and their entangled connections with people, places and things. It follows the journeys of drugs from the farmers’ fields, through their various stages of transportation, storage and transformation, until they arrive at the border with Tajikistan. The paper draws upon the notion of a ‘drugs assemblage’ – the interweaving of plants, institutio…
Reterritorialization of Community Forestry
Nepal's community forestry is an example of a decentralized, participatory and autonomous development model. However, recent community forestry practices informed by the concept of scientific forestry in resource-rich and commercially lucrative Terai regions of Nepal have reversed community forestry gains. Scientific forestry, enforced through the Department of Forest has reproduced frontier power dynamics creating reterritorialization of communi…
Secondary Forests and Agrarian Transitions
We provide an analytical contrast of the dynamics of secondary forest regeneration in Nepal and Peru framed by a set of common themes: land access, boundaries, territories, and rights, seemingly more secure in Nepal than Peru; processes of agrarian change and their consequences for forest-agriculture interactions and the role of secondary forest in the landscape, more marked in Peru, where San Martín is experiencing apparent agricultural intensif…
What Is Secondary about Secondary Tropical Forest? Rethinking Forest Landscapes
Forests have long been locations of contestation between people and state bureaucracies, and among the knowledge frameworks of local users, foresters, ecologists, and conservationists. An essential framing of the debate has been between the categories of primary and secondary forest. In this introduction to a collection of papers that address the questions of what basis, in what sense, and for whom primary forest is ‘primary’ and secondary forest…
Measuring progress towards SDG16 in Afghanistan
Seeking One’s Fortune Elsewhere
Using two cases, Anapu and São Manoel, located in the Brazilian Amazonian, this paper discusses the relationships between smallholders’ capacity for collective action, smallholders’ potential to unite and defend their territories, and the role of the state. In November 2017 a forest reserve of the settlement in Anapu was invaded by near 200 armed illegal squatters. We show how this event resulted from a gradual increase in internal tensions and l…
Shifting regimes of management and uses of forests
At a time when many developing countries are preparing to implement REDD+, there is debate on the possible implications for existing community forestry (CF) governance. Drawing on a REDD+ pilot undertaken in Nepal, this paper seeks to investigate how REDD+ has been downscaled into the community forestry context and with what implications for CF governance. The analysis is guided by three research questions: how are the objectives and discourses u…
Village Context and the National Solidarity Program in Afghanistan
This paper explores the relation between the design of Afghanistan’s National Solidarity Program and implementation outcomes. It draws on a study of village contexts to understand the variability in the relations of responsibility and accountability that exist between customary village leadership, village elites, and village households. Findings on diverse processes of “bricolage” between the NSP intervention and customary practices highlight the…
Challenges of Late Development in Afghanistan
Agriculture has been seen as the engine of growth for Afghanistan, but it has failed to deliver. Evidence from a long-term livelihood study points to a rural economy that is driven more by social relations than by market relations. These are underpinned by major land inequality and a distributional economy concerned with survival, given the absence of rural employment
Policy without politics
As developing countries around the world formulate policies to address climate change, concerns remain as to whether the voices of those most exposed to climate risk are represented in those policies. Developing countries face significant challenges for contextualizing global-scale scientific research into national political dynamics and downscaling global frameworks to sub-national levels, where the most affected are presumed to live. This artic…
Redd+, forest transition, agrarian change and ecosystem services in the hills of Nepal
Land, power and conflict in Afghanistan
This paper explores the diverse links between land and power under conditions of conflict in Afghanistan, taking into account the complexities of Afghan society. These complexities are structured around interconnecting informal institutions and personalised relationships, culturally specific, diverse and shifting patterns of social relations, and spatially specific patterns of land ownership inequalities. The paper draws on a decade of empirical …
Village-level Behavior Under Conditions of Chronic Conflict
Drawing on a panel study of households established in 2002 and a revisit in 2008–2010 to a subsample, this paper explores the livelihood pathways of 24 households in 3 villages in Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan. It finds that most households were worse off than they were in 2001, although they experienced a brief period of relative prosperity based on the 1 market choice available, opium poppy. The paper draws attention to the corporate n…
Social Relationships and Rural Livelihood Security in Afghanistan
This article examines the importance of a range of types of social relationships, characterised by differing levels of privilege, power, obligation and reciprocity, to rural Afghan livelihood security. Specifically, it explores how rural Afghan households in Kandahar and Badakhshan provinces negotiate within their diverse social environments, characterised by varied forms of institutional weakness and local power structures, to achieve some measu…
High value forests, hidden economies and elite capture
The matrilineal inheritance of land in Bhutan
Debate on the role of land in gender relations remains alive and controversial. Not widely known about are the matrilineal systems of inheritance in Bhutan that evolved under a theocratic state where usufructury rights underpinned state–‘patron’ relations. Under conditions of limited surplus and a taxation system in kind that lasted up to the 1950s in this country, matrilineal systems that are culture specific rather than generalised may have act…
Re-reading ‘Mountainous’, ‘Isolated’, ‘Inaccessible’ and ‘Small’
New seeds and poor people
Agricultural Research in Sri Lanka
An underlying premise of much of the comment on developing countries' agricultural research organizations and capabilities, has been that they are weak, and have been unsuccessful in generating new technologies and meeting farmers' needs. Indeed, one of the very justifications for the setting up of the series of international research institutes, such as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was that national research programmes were s…
Entangled lives
This article, focussing on Badakhshan province in north-east Afghanistan, explores the lifeworld of drugs and their entangled connections with people, places and things. It follows the journeys of drugs from the farmers’ fields, through their various stages of transportation, storage and transformation, until they arrive at the border with Tajikistan. The paper draws upon the notion of a ‘drugs assemblage’ – the interweaving of plants, institutio…
Shifting regimes of management and uses of forests
At a time when many developing countries are preparing to implement REDD+, there is debate on the possible implications for existing community forestry (CF) governance. Drawing on a REDD+ pilot undertaken in Nepal, this paper seeks to investigate how REDD+ has been downscaled into the community forestry context and with what implications for CF governance. The analysis is guided by three research questions: how are the objectives and discourses u…
Social Relationships and Rural Livelihood Security in Afghanistan
This article examines the importance of a range of types of social relationships, characterised by differing levels of privilege, power, obligation and reciprocity, to rural Afghan livelihood security. Specifically, it explores how rural Afghan households in Kandahar and Badakhshan provinces negotiate within their diverse social environments, characterised by varied forms of institutional weakness and local power structures, to achieve some measu…
Between necessity and compulsion
Drawing on long-term fieldwork in Badakhshan, a borderland province in the northeast of Afghanistan, the paper explores the role that opium poppy cultivation has played in a marginal high-altitude economy. Framed by the analytic of 'narco-frontiers' and the puzzle of the persistence of small farmers in uneven agrarian transitions, the paper investigates the diversity of market and non-market institutions that operate across the means of productio…
The matrilineal inheritance of land in Bhutan
Debate on the role of land in gender relations remains alive and controversial. Not widely known about are the matrilineal systems of inheritance in Bhutan that evolved under a theocratic state where usufructury rights underpinned state–‘patron’ relations. Under conditions of limited surplus and a taxation system in kind that lasted up to the 1950s in this country, matrilineal systems that are culture specific rather than generalised may have act…
Agricultural Research in Sri Lanka
An underlying premise of much of the comment on developing countries' agricultural research organizations and capabilities, has been that they are weak, and have been unsuccessful in generating new technologies and meeting farmers' needs. Indeed, one of the very justifications for the setting up of the series of international research institutes, such as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was that national research programmes were s…
Challenges of Late Development in Afghanistan
Agriculture has been seen as the engine of growth for Afghanistan, but it has failed to deliver. Evidence from a long-term livelihood study points to a rural economy that is driven more by social relations than by market relations. These are underpinned by major land inequality and a distributional economy concerned with survival, given the absence of rural employment
Reterritorialization of Community Forestry
Nepal's community forestry is an example of a decentralized, participatory and autonomous development model. However, recent community forestry practices informed by the concept of scientific forestry in resource-rich and commercially lucrative Terai regions of Nepal have reversed community forestry gains. Scientific forestry, enforced through the Department of Forest has reproduced frontier power dynamics creating reterritorialization of communi…
Land, power and conflict in Afghanistan
This paper explores the diverse links between land and power under conditions of conflict in Afghanistan, taking into account the complexities of Afghan society. These complexities are structured around interconnecting informal institutions and personalised relationships, culturally specific, diverse and shifting patterns of social relations, and spatially specific patterns of land ownership inequalities. The paper draws on a decade of empirical …
Re-reading ‘Mountainous’, ‘Isolated’, ‘Inaccessible’ and ‘Small’
Agricultural Research in Sri Lanka
An underlying premise of much of the comment on developing countries' agricultural research organizations and capabilities, has been that they are weak, and have been unsuccessful in generating new technologies and meeting farmers' needs. Indeed, one of the very justifications for the setting up of the series of international research institutes, such as the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was that national research programmes were s…
New seeds and poor people
Re-reading ‘Mountainous’, ‘Isolated’, ‘Inaccessible’ and ‘Small’
The matrilineal inheritance of land in Bhutan
Debate on the role of land in gender relations remains alive and controversial. Not widely known about are the matrilineal systems of inheritance in Bhutan that evolved under a theocratic state where usufructury rights underpinned state–‘patron’ relations. Under conditions of limited surplus and a taxation system in kind that lasted up to the 1950s in this country, matrilineal systems that are culture specific rather than generalised may have act…
High value forests, hidden economies and elite capture
Village-level Behavior Under Conditions of Chronic Conflict
Drawing on a panel study of households established in 2002 and a revisit in 2008–2010 to a subsample, this paper explores the livelihood pathways of 24 households in 3 villages in Badakhshan in northeastern Afghanistan. It finds that most households were worse off than they were in 2001, although they experienced a brief period of relative prosperity based on the 1 market choice available, opium poppy. The paper draws attention to the corporate n…
Social Relationships and Rural Livelihood Security in Afghanistan
This article examines the importance of a range of types of social relationships, characterised by differing levels of privilege, power, obligation and reciprocity, to rural Afghan livelihood security. Specifically, it explores how rural Afghan households in Kandahar and Badakhshan provinces negotiate within their diverse social environments, characterised by varied forms of institutional weakness and local power structures, to achieve some measu…
Land, power and conflict in Afghanistan
This paper explores the diverse links between land and power under conditions of conflict in Afghanistan, taking into account the complexities of Afghan society. These complexities are structured around interconnecting informal institutions and personalised relationships, culturally specific, diverse and shifting patterns of social relations, and spatially specific patterns of land ownership inequalities. The paper draws on a decade of empirical …
Policy without politics
As developing countries around the world formulate policies to address climate change, concerns remain as to whether the voices of those most exposed to climate risk are represented in those policies. Developing countries face significant challenges for contextualizing global-scale scientific research into national political dynamics and downscaling global frameworks to sub-national levels, where the most affected are presumed to live. This artic…
Redd+, forest transition, agrarian change and ecosystem services in the hills of Nepal
Shifting regimes of management and uses of forests
At a time when many developing countries are preparing to implement REDD+, there is debate on the possible implications for existing community forestry (CF) governance. Drawing on a REDD+ pilot undertaken in Nepal, this paper seeks to investigate how REDD+ has been downscaled into the community forestry context and with what implications for CF governance. The analysis is guided by three research questions: how are the objectives and discourses u…
Village Context and the National Solidarity Program in Afghanistan
This paper explores the relation between the design of Afghanistan’s National Solidarity Program and implementation outcomes. It draws on a study of village contexts to understand the variability in the relations of responsibility and accountability that exist between customary village leadership, village elites, and village households. Findings on diverse processes of “bricolage” between the NSP intervention and customary practices highlight the…
Challenges of Late Development in Afghanistan
Agriculture has been seen as the engine of growth for Afghanistan, but it has failed to deliver. Evidence from a long-term livelihood study points to a rural economy that is driven more by social relations than by market relations. These are underpinned by major land inequality and a distributional economy concerned with survival, given the absence of rural employment
Secondary Forests and Agrarian Transitions
We provide an analytical contrast of the dynamics of secondary forest regeneration in Nepal and Peru framed by a set of common themes: land access, boundaries, territories, and rights, seemingly more secure in Nepal than Peru; processes of agrarian change and their consequences for forest-agriculture interactions and the role of secondary forest in the landscape, more marked in Peru, where San Martín is experiencing apparent agricultural intensif…
What Is Secondary about Secondary Tropical Forest? Rethinking Forest Landscapes
Forests have long been locations of contestation between people and state bureaucracies, and among the knowledge frameworks of local users, foresters, ecologists, and conservationists. An essential framing of the debate has been between the categories of primary and secondary forest. In this introduction to a collection of papers that address the questions of what basis, in what sense, and for whom primary forest is ‘primary’ and secondary forest…
Measuring progress towards SDG16 in Afghanistan
Seeking One’s Fortune Elsewhere
Using two cases, Anapu and São Manoel, located in the Brazilian Amazonian, this paper discusses the relationships between smallholders’ capacity for collective action, smallholders’ potential to unite and defend their territories, and the role of the state. In November 2017 a forest reserve of the settlement in Anapu was invaded by near 200 armed illegal squatters. We show how this event resulted from a gradual increase in internal tensions and l…
Entangled lives
This article, focussing on Badakhshan province in north-east Afghanistan, explores the lifeworld of drugs and their entangled connections with people, places and things. It follows the journeys of drugs from the farmers’ fields, through their various stages of transportation, storage and transformation, until they arrive at the border with Tajikistan. The paper draws upon the notion of a ‘drugs assemblage’ – the interweaving of plants, institutio…
Reterritorialization of Community Forestry
Nepal's community forestry is an example of a decentralized, participatory and autonomous development model. However, recent community forestry practices informed by the concept of scientific forestry in resource-rich and commercially lucrative Terai regions of Nepal have reversed community forestry gains. Scientific forestry, enforced through the Department of Forest has reproduced frontier power dynamics creating reterritorialization of communi…
Between necessity and compulsion
Drawing on long-term fieldwork in Badakhshan, a borderland province in the northeast of Afghanistan, the paper explores the role that opium poppy cultivation has played in a marginal high-altitude economy. Framed by the analytic of 'narco-frontiers' and the puzzle of the persistence of small farmers in uneven agrarian transitions, the paper investigates the diversity of market and non-market institutions that operate across the means of productio…
Labour and landscape husbandry in the Nepali mid hills
Dancing with Uncertainty in the Himalayas in Times of Multiple Crises
Based on the life histories of 10 poor rural Nepalese, the article, drawing on the metaphor of dance, explores the structured improvisations of these individuals in response to the hazards and possibilities they have found in life. Key themes of repertoires and risk pools, time preference behaviour and disposition or hope are explored. While land remains central to risk pools, contributing to subsistence and security, it is insufficient. The impr…
Geography (17 works) · Political science (15 works) · Economics (14 works) · Agriculture (9 works) · Business (9 works) · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management (8 works) · Livelihood (8 works) · Sociology (8 works) · Development economics (7 works) · Economic growth (7 works)