Agrarian Studies Synthetic Work at the Cutting Edge James C. Scott, Nina Bhatt

This book presents an account of an intellectual breakthrough in the study of rural society and agriculture. Its ten chapters, selected for their originality and synthesis from the colloquia of the Programme in Agrarian Studies at Yale University, encompass various disciplines, diverse historical periods, and several regions of the world. The contributors' fresh analyses will broaden the perspectives of readers with interests as wide-ranging as rural sociology, environmentalism, political science, history, anthropology, economics, and art history. The ten studies recast and expand what is known about rural society and agrarian issues, examining such topics as poverty, subsistence, cultivation, ecology, justice, art, custom, law, ritual life, cooperation, and state action. Each contribution provides a point of departure for new study, encouraging deeper thinking across disciplinary boundaries and frontiers.

James C. Scott is Eugene Meyer Professor of Political Science, professor of anthropology, and director of the Programme in Agrarian Studies at Yale University. He is the author of Seeing Like a State (0 300 07815 3, pb. 11.95), Domination and the Arts of Resistance (0 300 05669 9, pb. 11.95), Weapons of the Weak (0 300 03641 8, pb. 14.50), and The Moral Economy of the Peasant (0 300 02190 9, pb. 10.95), all published by Yale University Press. Nina Bhatt has worked as rural sociologist for the World Bank in Nepal and Washington, D.C., and as micro-enterprise consultant for the Ford Foundation in India.

"A distinctive and distinguished collection, this volume includes the best work from the most interesting agrarian scholars." James C. McCann, Boston University