Agrarian transitions, rural resistance and peasant politics in Southeast Asia

Abstract

"In light of the recent revival of agrarian studies in the scholarship of Southeast Asia, this paper reviews three recent publications that are concerned with specific aspects of what has been framed as 'agrarian transition', 'agrarian change' or 'agrarian transformation'. It seeks to identify new perspectives and fresh approaches to the analytical challenges that arise from the multi-faceted and intertwined nature of agrarian change in the region. Further, it considers the implications of these processes – specifically in social, political and economic terms – for the rural population and examines their ways of embracing and resisting these changes. By emphasising the explanatory potential that linking approaches, theories and methodologies of different research traditions and disciplines in an integrative fashion has, it will be argued that - in order to enhance our understanding of people's responses to rural change - it is essential to recognise their agency and perceptions as interconnected across multiple scales within broader structural conditions." (author's abstract). Review of: 1. Caouette, Dominique, and Sarah Turner (eds): Agrarian Angst and Rural Resistance in Contemporary Southeast Asia. Routledge ISS Studies in Rural Livelihoods. Abingdon, Oxford/New York: Routledge 2009. ISBN 978-0-415-54838-0. 2. Bunnell, Tim, D. Parthasarathy, and Eric C. Thompson (eds): Cleavage, Connection and Conflict in Rural, Urban and Contemporary Asia. ARI – Springer Asia Series, Vol. 3. Heidelberg: Springer 2013. ISBN 978-94-007-5481-2. 3. Walker, Andrew: Thailand's Political Peasants: Power in the Modern Rural Economy. New Perspectives in SE Asian Studies. Madison, Wisc.: Univ. of Wisconsin Press 2012. ISBN 978-0299288242.