Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies

'This impressive Handbook captures and reflects the vibrancy of, and will propel further, the rapidly expanding field of critical agrarian studies. It is an indispensable reference in the field for students, teachers, researchers, policy experts, and activists.' -- Saturnino M. Borras Jr., International Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Peasant Studies 'The Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies is a magnificent field-building achievement. Ambitious and comprehensive, it marks the coming of age of critical agrarian studies, with first-rate contributions from foundational thinkers and emerging stars on everything from agroecology and land, to financialization, territoriality, extractivism, migrant labour, and dozens of other topics.' -- Marc Edelman, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York 'Critical agrarian studies is not a sentimental journey into the past but ways of rethinking how the dynamics of agrarian change reflect and shape some of the most important issues of our time. In these creative and thoughtful short chapters, leading scholars provide new angles on familiar questions such as land ownership, the ways we eat, agrarian extractivism, ecological crisis and rural social movements and on many new issues as well. Authors also lead readers through current debates and introduce them to the particular methodological problems of agrarian studies.' -- Bridget O'Laughlin, International Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands and Co-Editor of the Journal of Agrarian Change 'The Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies is an excellent and solid work that takes us through the foundational and current debates of this research field, its main concepts and methodological approaches, the intersection of the agrarian question with environmental, territorial, techno-science and financialization issues, among other topics. An essential reference book.' -- Carla Gras, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas, Argentina 'This Handbook will surely become the point of departure for anyone planning research on agrarian issues from a critical perspective. The 72 contributions - most by well-regarded experts in the field-provide both succinct literature reviews and substantive insight on a broad range of relevant topics. Some of the chapters, such as on The Agrarian Question, Land Grabs, and Feasible Utopias are superb. Whether for clarification of key concepts or to grasp the contours of current debates, the Handbook will be useful to students, researchers, those teaching in the field, as well as policy advocates and activists.' -- Carmen Diana Deere, University of Florida, US

Edited by A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Department of International Development Studies, Trent University, Canada, Kristina Dietz, Institut fur Internationale Entwicklung Universitat Wien, Austria, Bettina Engels, Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Freie Universitat Berlin, Germany and Ben M. McKay, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Canada

Contents: Foreword xxiii Tania Murray Li Acknowledgements xxv 1 An introduction to the Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies 1 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay PART I ORIGINS 2 Frontiers, regimes and learning from history 9 Ulbe Bosma and Eric Vanhaute 3 Origins of peasant studies 15 Harriet Friedmann 4 The diversity of classical agrarian Marxism 25 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi and Cristobal Kay 5 Debates on the historical origins of agrarian capitalism 34 Xavier Lafrance 6 An alternative perspective on the agrarian question in Europe and in the developing countries 45 Utsa Patnaik PART II CONCEPTS 7 The agrarian question 53 Michael Watts 8 Class 67 Sara Berry 9 Land 72 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi 10 Frontiers: Commodification and territorialization 80 Mattias Borg Rasmussen and Christian Lund 11 Labour 91 Jonathan Pattenden 12 Labor and social reproduction 99 Smriti Rao 13 Peasants 109 Jan Douwe van der Ploeg 14 Gender 120 Avanti Mukherjee 15 Gender, nature, body 131 Andrea J. Nightingale and Wendy Harcourt 16 Kinship 139 Pauline E. Peters 17 Generation 150 Ben White 18 Intersectionality 157 Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Markus Ihalainen and Bimbika Sijapati Basnett 19 Merchant and usurer's capital 165 John Harriss 20 Agricultural markets 171 Muhammad Ali Jan and Barbara Harriss-White 21 Financialization 178 Jennifer Clapp and S. Ryan Isakson 22 Agrarian law 187 Sergio Coronado 23 Territoriality 197 Annie Shattuck and Nancy Lee Peluso 24 Agrarian/land reform 205 Ben Cousins 25 Food regimes 218 Philip McMichael 26 Crisis 232 Robert Chernomas, Ian Hudson and A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi 27 Food sovereignty, food security and the right to food 238 Priscilla Claeys, Annette Aurelie Desmarais and Jasber Singh PART III METHODOLOGIES 28 Qualitative research 251 Elisa Greco 29 Quantitative analysis 258 J. Paul Dunne 30 Geographical research 266 Oliver Pye 31 Questions and answers 272 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi PART IV REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES 32 The agrarian question in Africa: Past, present and future 279 Samir Amin 33 Social movements in times of extractivism: The ecoterritorial turn in Latin America 285 Maristella Svampa 34 Agrarian change in China: Historical origins and competing perspectives 296 Qian Forrest Zhang 35 Beyond confrontation: Silent growers, symbiosis and subtle peasantness in post-socialist Eurasia 305 Oane Visser, Brian Kuns and Petr Jehlicka 36 BRICS and global agrarian transformations 316 Gustavo de L.T. Oliveira and Ben M. McKay 37 Neoliberalism and the crisis in India's countryside 324 Prabhat Patnaik 38 Crises of capitalism in the countryside: Debates from the South 334 Praveen Jha and Paris Yeros PART V DEBATES 39 Land grabs 346 Ariane Goetz 40 Water for agriculture 357 Larry A. Swatuk 41 Biofuels 366 Carol Hunsberger 42 Industrial fisheries and oceanic accumulation 374 Elizabeth Havice and Liam Campling 43 Forests and current transitions 387 Markus Kroeger 44 Artisanal and small-scale mining 401 Boris Verbrugge and Robin Thiers 45 Footloose labour 410 John Harriss 46 Contract farming 416 Helena Perez Nino and Carlos Oya 47 Biotechnology 427 Matthew A. Schnurr and Lincoln Addison 48 Agroecology 438 Nils McCune and Peter Rosset 49 Identities and culture in the rural world 453 Nicholas Copeland 50 Everyday politics in agrarian societies 463 Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet 51 The state and rural politics 469 Leandro Vergara-Camus 52 Experts, land regimes and the politics of mapping 480 Facundo Martin 53 Rural social movements/transnational agrarian movements 491 Giuliano Martiniello 54 Industrial agriculture and agrarian extractivism 503 Ben M. McKay and Henry Veltmeyer 55 Rural dispossession and capital accumulation 515 Derek Hall 56 Ecological crises in the rural world 525 Marcus Taylor 57 Microfinance and rural financial inclusion 536 Marcus Taylor 58 Rural indebtedness 547 Julien-Francois Gerber 59 The neoliberal diet 556 Gerardo Otero 60 Meatification 561 Tony Weis 61 Digital agriculture 568 Kristina