From Rural Sociology to Integrated Rural Development: Re-Establishing Valuable Antecedents and Connections of Rural Communication

The growing concern for food security, the environment, and the need to strategize on rural development continues to arise in today’s globalized world. This is more so because a sizeable number of the world’s population resides in the rural areas in addition to the reality that rural areas remain the food baskets and the repository of usable knowledge of all growing economies. This paper is based on findings from a systematic literature review of related literature and concludes that while the need to focus on the rural area and develop its potential is ever increasing, it is becoming imperative to return to the root of the rural phenomenon with the hope that such a return may offer the needed wisdom and perspectives to navigate the recurring issues of strategic communication plans for rural development. It is believed that this return to the classic foundations may offer a sense of contact with the basics from which clearer ideas may emerge to steer the ship of rural communication to the promised land of sustained development. Through a review of related literature, the paper brings insights from antecedents and attempts to present a clearer view of issues and concerns that will form the thrust of more effective planning and implementation of communication strategies geared toward rural development. By establishing links between rural sociology, rural studies, rural development and communication for rural development, the study also attempts to confirm the authenticity of the recurrent theme of inter-disciplinarity in the search for a usable past.