2012-2013 Academic Catalog

May 03, 2024

2012-2013 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ID 206 - Peasants, Rural Development and Agrarian Change

Throughout history, outsiders have long tried to “fix” the peasantry—stereotyping them from poor and plodding to cunning and rebellious. Who are these ambiguous rural folk? And what is wrong with them? As the course will show, debates about the category of “peasants” often reflect deeper questions about the nature of capitalism, colonialism, the nation-state, rural development, and even modernity itself. The course begins with foundational texts in anthropology, and political economy attempting to define “peasants” and the unique logic of their “moral economy”. Later thematic topics include: gender and farm labor; the Green Revolution and the environment; rebellions and revolts; indigeneity; the commons and commodification; agricultural policy and transnational trade; land reform; NGO mobilization; “local food” and back-to-the-land movements. As an interdisciplinary seminar, students will have the opportunity to read ethnographies, histories, and socio-economic analyses with a broad geographic scope. We will also discuss how all these academic debates influence rural development policy and practice.