Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital
Rural Bengal since 1770

A critical work of synthesis and interpretation of agrarian change in India over the long term.

Sugata Bose (Author)

9780521033220, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 February 2007

224 pages, 4 b/w illus. 8 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.4 cm, 0.333 kg

This book is a critical work of synthesis and interpretation on one of the central themes in modern Indian history - agrarian change under British colonial rule. Sugata Bose analyses the relationships between demography, commercialization, class structure and peasant resistance unfolding over the long term between 1770 and more recent times. By integrating the histories of land and capital, he examines the relationship between capitalist 'development' of the wider economy under colonial rule and agrarian continuity and change. Drawing most of his empirical evidence from rural Bengal, the author makes comparisons with regional agrarian histories of other parts of South Asia. Thus, this study stands on its own in the field of modern Indian social and economic history in its chronological sweep and comparative context and makes the complex subject of India's peasantry accessible to students and the interested non-specialist.

List of illustrations
List of tables
General editor's preface
Preface
Introduction
1. Ecology and demography
2. Commercialisation and colonialism
3. Property and production
4. Appropriation and exploitation
5. Resistance and consciousness
Conclusion
Bibliographical essay
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]