While much social science to date on the digitization of agriculture has focused on large agribusiness, farms under two hectares account for 84% of farms worldwide and produce about 35% of the world's food. Many small farmers are located in the Global South, where land provides a source of sustenance and site of home. Understanding the implications of increasing digital connection is critical for understanding rural economies, societies, and politics. This talk draws on a decade of anthropological and participatory research with farmers, activists and policymakers in Myanmar to discuss how digital connection is shifting rural economics, culture, and politics, before and after the 2021 military coup.

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Hilary Faxon is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Social Science at the University of Montana, currently on leave as a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow in the Department of Food and Resource Economics at the University of Copenhagen. Hilary's research, teaching and public scholarship investigate environment, development and technology with a focus on social justice in the Global South.