Disappearing Peasantries?

This book points out how peasant labour redundancy can undermine rural welfare and political stability, and why academics and policy-makers of the twenty-first century cannot ignore the world's disappearing peasantries without endangering sustainable development and international security. The editors combine rural research with a new analytical perspective on major peasant and agrarian development debates, and provide an insight into peasant studies and the western biases that have permeated it. The rich case study material from all three continents illustrates the pressures and opportunities that have befallen peasants, leading them to 'diversify' into a number of occupations and non-agricultural income-earning avenues. The relationship of peasants to the land has changed; and the factors influencing this are discussed. These include multi-occupational livelihoods, intensified labour mobility and flexibility, straddled urban and rural residences, and flooded labour markets. The state and market influences on the rural family and village community are also examined.

Deborah Bryceson is Reader in Urban Studies, Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow.

Tess Kay is an associate professor at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands.

Jos Mooij is a lecturer at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands.