Description
Book SynopsisAn interdisciplinary exploration of the connections between the politics of environmental degradation and agrarian life in India.
Trade Review“[T]he chapters in this book are very cogently argued, and combine to create a coherent whole. They raise important questions, relevant not only to India but also to many other countries in the world.” - Wolfgang Hoeschele,
International Politics“
Agrarian Environments makes a pathbreaking theoretical contribution. . . .” - Brian Caton,
The Journal of Asian Studies“[A] stimulating and conceptually sophisticated critique of romanticized populist discourse on indigenous communities, women and environmental/agrarian management. . . . [T]he volume is likely to be of great interest and value to anyone with an interest in South Asian studies, development, environmental issues, gender or community-based resource management.” - Sarah Jewitt,
The Journal of Peasant Studies[E]xtremely rich, both empirically and theoretically. . . . I cannot recommend it highly enough." - Ajantha Subramanian,
American Ethnologist“This fine piece of interdisciplinary work attempts a fundamental reformulation of human-nature relationship. . . . Students of south Asia will find this book extremely rewarding. Given its theoretical profundity, it is a must read for all those having an interest in agrarian-environmental studies.” - Manish K. Thakur
, Journal of Development Studies“
Agrarian Environments is a volume of historically and empirically informed essays that represents a new generation of scholarship that promises to reshape the fields of agrarian and environmental studies. By confronting some of the received wisdoms that have separated the study of agriculture from that of the environment, this book opens up a whole range of new and refreshing questions that will be of relevance to scholars and policymakers in all parts of the world.”—Akhil Gupta, author of
Postcolonial Developments: Agriculture in the Making of Modern India“This volume brings a remarkable maturity of vision to the study of the environmental history and politics of India. Departing from the tired nature/culture dichotomy, it offers a fresh approach that situates the environment, agriculture, and politics within a single field. Our understanding of the politics of Indian environment and the academic field of environmental studies will never be the same after
Agrarian Environments.”—Gyan Prakash, Princeton University
“
Agrarian Environments makes a pathbreaking theoretical contribution. . . .” -- Brian Caton * Journal of Asian Studies *
“[A] stimulating and conceptually sophisticated critique of romanticized populist discourse on indigenous communities, women and environmental/agrarian management. . . . [T]he volume is likely to be of great interest and value to anyone with an interest in South Asian studies, development, environmental issues, gender or community-based resource management.” -- Sarah Jewitt * The Journal of Peasant Studies *
“[T]he chapters in this book are very cogently argued, and combine to create a coherent whole. They raise important questions, relevant not only to India but also to many other countries in the world.” -- Wolfgang Hoeschele * International Politics *
“This fine piece of interdisciplinary work attempts a fundamental reformulation of human-nature relationship. . . . Students of south Asia will find this book extremely rewarding. Given its theoretical profundity, it is a must read for all those having an interest in agrarian-environmental studies.” -- Manish K. Thakur * Journal of Development Studies *
[E]xtremely rich, both empirically and theoretically. . . . I cannot recommend it highly enough." -- Ajantha Subramanian * American Ethnologist *
Table of ContentsForeword / James C. Scott vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Agrarian Environments / Arun Agrawal and K. Sivaramakrishnan 1
State Economic Policies and Changing Regional Landscapes in the Uttarakhand Himalaya, 1818–1947 / Haripriya Rangan 23
Colonial Influences on Property, Community, and Land Use in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh / J. Mark Baker 47
Environmental Alarm and Institutionalized Conservation in Himachal Pradesh, 1865–1994 / Vasant K. Saberwal 68
State Power and Agricultural Transformation in Tamil Nadu / Jenny Springer 86
Famine in the Landscape: Imagining Hunger in South Asian History, 1860–1990 / Darren C. Zook 107
Economic Rents and Natural Resources: Common Conflicts in Premodern India / Sumit Guha 132
Identities and Livelihoods: Gender, Ethnicity, and Nature in a South Bihar Village / Cecile Jackson and Molly Chattopadhyay 147
Regimes of Control, Strategies of Access: Politics of Forest Use in the Uttarakhand Himalaya, India / Shubhra Gururani 170
Pastoralism and Community in Rajasthan: Interrogating Categories of Arid Lands Development / Paul Robbins 191
Labored Landscapes: Agro-ecological Change in Central Gujarat, India / Vinay Gidwani 216
Reflections
Agrarian Histories and Grassroots Development in South Asia / David Ludden 251
Cathecting the Natural / Ajay Skaria 265
Bibliography 277
Contributors 303
Index 307
