Description
Book SynopsisOrdinary people's everyday political behavior can have a huge impact on national policy: that is the central conclusion of this book on Vietnam. In telling the story of collectivized agriculture in that country, Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet uncovers a...
Trade Review"Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet again enlarges our understanding of subaltern agency and politics. This splendid volume is a great tribute to the capacity of Vietnamese villagers to doggedly defend their basic interests and restrict the options of elites. The Power of Everyday Politics is also a great tribute to Kerkvliet as the political analyst and ethnographer of this important struggle. It is an essential contribution to Southeast Asian studies and to our understanding of socialist bloc agriculture and of the 'other' struggle of the Vietnamese people." -- James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science and Anthropology and Director, Program in Agrarian Studies, Yale University
"The Power of Everyday Politics makes an important contribution to peasant studies by introducing readers to the Vietnamese experience in collective farming. In a superbly researched book, Kerkvliet demonstrates the vital importance of everyday political behavior on the shape of national policy. The result is not only an insightful examination of Vietnamese peasants and collective farming, but also a revised picture of Vietnam's political system and the interactions between state and society." -- Lynne Viola, University of Toronto, author of
Peasant Rebels Under Stalin: Collectivization and the Culture of Peasant Resistance
