ANTHR 6152 - Peasant Economies and Ecologies

Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only.

Co-meets with ANTHR 3152.

P. Kohlbry.

What are peasantries, and why do they matter today? We will learn how peasant communities interact with land, plants, and animals, and how they are integrated into national governance and global markets. We will explore the contradictory ways—as reactionary and revolutionary, doomed and flourishing—that peasants have appeared in modern economic, political, and environmental projects. Topics include classic accounts of capitalism and agrarian change; anti-colonialism and national liberation; debates over development, indigeneity, and gender; and emerging concerns over fair trade, sustainable agriculture, and climate change. Readings include work from revolutionary intellectuals and peasant movements as well as ethnographic studies.