FARMING WOMEN, TIME AND THE RE-AGRARIANIZATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS

The article examines the suggestion that an ecological time concept mi ght be achieved by the 're-agrarianization' of consciousness: as in ag riculture, thought and action are to be related to the pace of natural processes. Data from empirical investigations of time management amon gst women involved in peasant agriculture are used to indicate that, a lthough peasant agrarian time does contain important elements of ecolo gical time, agrarian time is also always formed by social processes an d power structures. This is evident at the moment, particularly given that structural changes in peasant agriculture are leading to an indus trialization and 'denaturalization' of agrarian time. At present, the garden, more than anywhere else, seems to be the place in which farmin g women can experience a 'good time'.