Professor Hecht

Spring, 2000

UP 234B Rural Development Issues: The Peasant Economy: Old Debates,

New Theory, Different World

This course reviews some of the classic literatures on peasantries and outlines some of

the central debates about rural development, peasants, politics, resistance and their

future. To do so we analyze the historical views of peasantries, how these have

changed over time and how their position in the economy has changed. In a central way,

development policy increasingly places them as marginal economic actors, while

environmental concerns place peasants at the heart of resource stewardship. Other

factors, such as technical change in agriculture, cyclic outmigration and new forms of

labor organization have raised question about the gender division of labor and its

implications. Finally, the way of thinking about peasants (and the way they think about

themselves) has also changed, and is more deeply imbued with questions of identity

and capacities in rural development. Peasant revolutions transformed the political world

of the 20 th century with the revolutions in Mexico, China, Russia, Vietnam, Cuba and

Central America, and continue to reshape the political landscape in sharply divergent

ways from the Zapatistas to the Rubber tappers.

Course requirements:

Do the reading.

An analysis of a peasant uprising (historical or current): Present it to the class

A take home final.

Books for the course are:

Scott, J. l985. Weapons of the Weak. New Haven. Yale.

Escobar, A. l995. Encountering Development Princeton Princeton Press

And the usual huge reader.

Week One: The general introduction

Week Two: Some questions about culture and development

Sahlins, M. l999. What is enlightenment? Annual Review of Anthropology 28 I-xxiii

Wolf, E. l982.Europe and the Peoples without History (25-100)

Jackson,J. l994. The politics of Tukanoan identity. In A Roosevelt (Ed) Amazonian

Indians U of Arizona Press.

Week Three: The Colonial subtext

Said, E. l968. Orientalism Introduction.

Pratt, M.L l985. Scratches on the Face of the Country. Critical Inquiry 12.

Comaroff, J and L. l992. "Africa Observed" in From Revelation Revolution.

Chicago, UC Press

Week Four. The peasant as a separate economy

Chapters from Chayanov Theory of the Peasant Economy (on reserve) Look also

Kerblay and Thorner’s essays in this volume.

Shanin, T. "Introduction" Peasants and Peasant Societies. New York, Blackwell

Scott, J. selections from Moral Economy of the Peasant. New Haven. Yale

Week Four: Peasants as a class

Lenin, V. l899. "The Differentiation of the Peasantry."

Deere, C and A. de Janvry A Conceptual Framework for the Empirical Analysis of

Peasants. Amer. Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Bernstein, H. l977. Notes on Capital and peasantry. Review of African Political

Economy. 10 pp 60-73

DeJanvry: The Agrarian Question (Select chapters) Reserve

Week Five: Understanding Agrarian Transitions and What They Mean.

Perkins, J. l993. The Rockefeller Foundation and the Green revolution. Agriculture and

Human Values.

Escobar: Chapters 2,3,4

Scott Weapons of the weak

White, B. l989. Problems in the Empirical Analysis of Agrarian Differentiation. In G. Hart.

Agrarian Transitions. UC Press

Taussig, M. l980. The Devil and Commodity Fetishism. Chap 5.

Week Six

E. Wolf' l978 Conclusion Peasant Wars of the 20 th Century . New York Harper

Brass, T. l991. Moral Economists, Subalterns, New Social Movements and the

(re) emergence of a (post) Modernized (middle) Peasant JPS Vol 18 (2)

173-206.

Paige:J. l992. A Theory of Rural Class Conflict

Finish Scott

Week Seven: What about Women

Carney, J. and Watts. l991. Disciplining Women. Signs Vol 16 (41).

Hart, G. l991. Engendering Resistance. JPS. Vol 19 (1) 92-121

R Schroeder and K. Suryanata. 1997. Gender and class power in Agroforestry systems.

In: Peet and Watts (Eds) Liberation Ecology. Routledge

Argawal, B. l992. Gender and the Environmental Debate. Feminist Studies

Jackson, C. l994. Women/Nature or gender/History. JPS

Hart, G. l991. Engendering everyday resistance. JPS Vol 19 No 1 93-121

Leach, M and Green l997. Gender and Environmental History. Environmental History

(3): 343-70

Paper on Migration and Women in Bolivia

Week Eight: Resource Based Resistance.

Moore, D. l993. Contesting terrain in Zimbabwe's highlands. Econ. Geography 69 (4)

380-402

Peluso, N and C Padoch l997. Changing Resource Rights in Managed Forests. Ms.

Dove, M. l983. Theories of Swidden Agriculture. Agroforestry Systems 1:85-99

Hecht and Cockburn l989. Fate of the Forest. London Verso Chaps 8.. 9

(Hobsbawn’s Albions Fatal Tree is an interesting read if you have time. This is actually

a suggestion for your summer reading…)

Week Eight The Politics of Identity

Klooster, D.2000. Community forestry and tree theft. Development and Change Vol 31

No. 1.

Hecht. S.In Press. The Imagination of conservation. Conservation Biology

Bebbington, A. l996. Organizations and Intensifications...World Development Vol.24

No 7. 1161-1177

Hale, C. l997. Cultural Politics of Identity in Latin America. Annual review of

Anthropology 26:567-90

Materials on the Zapatista movement.

Week Nine : Rethinking some models of Peasantries

Scoones, I.l999. New Ecology and the Social Sciences. Annual Review of Anthropology.

28:479-507

Bebbington, A 2000. Capacities and Capabilities..World Development

Reread Sahlins….

Week Ten: Final Comments, presentations
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