This is a simple story of the members of a peasant family in Sicily, who cannot communicate with their emigrant son, because they are unable to read or write.

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Told by Palin Ni Lap, a European-schooled economist from a small, unnamed South Asian country, stranded with his American wife in a peasant family's hovel during a monsoon, it seethes with the complex rage, pride and frustration of an educated third world aristo who can't find an easy place for himself at home or abroad.

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On tiny plots, and often poor-quality soil, without modern equipment or farming methods, and sometimes beset by land disputes, many peasant farmers struggle to feed their family and grow just a little extra to sell in the village market.

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The farmers, who were interested in developing community seed banks and strengthening family farming, met with the Brazilian Landless Peasant Movement (known by its Portuguese acronym MST).

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An archaeologist who neglects to publish a final report on a dig in a reasonable time is no more ethical (perhaps far less so) than an impoverished, third-world peasant looting the artefacts of his ancestors to support his family.

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