POLITICS OF LAND AND AGRARIAN CHANGE

Catalog description

The graduate seminar examines the politics of the land and agrarian question in the 20th and early 21st century. We start with an overview of the classical theoretical debates, often Eurocentric in scope, on agrarian transitions within and beyond capitalism.  We then shift our attention to an examination of contemporary and historical peasant uprisings and agrarian revolutions. Careful attention is paid to the struggles of subaltern classes, globalization and ecology.  Throughout we explore the differential weight of race, class, indigeneity, ethnicity and gender for understanding global explosions of agrarian insurgency. The course is structured as a reading intensive seminar.