From Mobilization to Institutionalization : The Dynamics of Agrarian Movement in Twentieth Century

Contents Preface. Acknowledgements. 1. Issues in the study of agrarian movements in India. 2. The historical context of peasant struggles in Malabar. 3. Historical background of agrarian mobilization in Travancore and Cochin. 4. The first decade of Agrarian movement after independence in Travancore Cochin and Malabar 1947 56. 5. The peak of agrarian mobilization in Kerala 1957 72. 6. Social structure and agrarian movement. 7. The organizational pattern and functioning of Agrarian movement. 8. Towards institutionalization of agrarian movement. 9. From mobilization to institutionalization. References. Index. Studies on social movements particularly agrarian movements have become popular in Indian social sciences by the 1970s. However most of these studies are post factum analyses and rarely one encounters a study of ongoing movements. From Mobilization to Institutionalization breaks new ground in this respect. It is at once an analysis of both the historical and contemporary phases of agrarian movement in twentieth century Kerala. Challenging the traditional juxtaposition between mobilization and institutionalization in social movement analysis this book theorizes that all movement contain within it both the dimensions simultaneously albeit in different proportions. Further the book draws upon unconventional sources of data. The history of the movement is reconstructed based on the accounts provided by grass root activists and the data on the contemporary phase is gathered by the author directly from the field in the course of a decade. Viewing the movement from within and below the study unfolds the internal dynamics of the movement. Additionally the ideology and organizational pattern the event structure the interrelationship between social structure and agrarian legislations are analysed to situate the movement in its social milieu. Conceptualizing agrarian movement as a continuous confrontation between the multiplicity of collectivities capitalist farmers peasantry and agrarian proletariat the collective actions piloted by the respective associations/unions of each of these categories are dealt with. The scope and analytical thrust of the book is such that it is an important reading for students of sociology social anthropology history political science and other cognate disciplines. The book is of immense value to the political activists policy makers civil servants and the lay public who want to be critically informed of and draw from the experience of agrarian movement and reforms in the Indian context. 268 pp.…