DECODING SUBALTERN POLITICS
James C. Scott has researched and written on subaltern groups, and, in particular, peasants, rebellion, resistance, and agriculture, for over 35 years. Yet much of Scotts most interesting work on the peasantry and the state, both conceptually and empirically, has never been published in book form. For the first time Decoding Subaltern Politics: Ideology, disguise, and resistance in agrarian politics brings together some of his most important work in one volume.
The book covers three distinct yet interlinked bodies of work. The first lays out a framework for understanding peasant politics and rebellion, much of which is applicable to rural areas of the contemporary global south. Scott then goes on to develop his arguments regarding everyday forms of peasant resistance using the comparative example of the religious tithe in France and Malaysia, and tracing the forms of resistance that cover their own tracks and avoid direct clashes with authorities. For much of the worlds population, and for most of its history, this sort of politics was far more common than the violent clashes that dominate the history books, and in this book one can examine the anatomy of such resistance in rich comparative detail. Finally, Scott explores how the states increasing grip on its population, its identity, land-holding, income, and movements, is a precondition for political hegemony. Crucially, in examining the invention of state-mandated legal identities, especially the permanent patronym and the vagaries of its imposition on vernacular life, Scott lays bare the micro-processes of state-formation and resistance.
Written by one of the leading social theorists of our age, Decoding Subaltern Politics: Ideology, disguise, and resistance in agrarian politics is an indispensable guide to the study of subaltern culture and politics and is essential reading for political scientists, anthropologists, sociologists, and historians alike.
James C. Scott is the Sterling Professor of Political Science and Professor of Anthropology and is Director of the Agrarian Studies Program at Yale University, USA.
Asias Transformations
Edited by Mark Selden, Cornell University, USA
The books in this series explore the political, social, economic and cultural consequences of Asias transformations in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The series emphasizes the tumultuous interplay of local, national, regional and global forces as Asia bids to become the hub of the world economy. While focusing on the contemporary, it also looks back to analyse the antecedents of Asias contested rise.
This series comprises several strands:
Asias Transformations
Titles include:
| Debating Human Rights Critical essays from the United States and Asia Edited by Peter Van Ness |
| Hong Kongs History State and society under colonial rule Edited by Tak-Wing Ngo |
| Japans Comfort Women Sexual slavery and prostitution during World War II and the US occupation Yuki Tanaka |
| Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy Carl A. Trocki |
| Chinese Society Change, conflict and resistance Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden |
| Maos Children in the New China Voices from the Red Guard generation Yarong Jiang and David Ashley |
| Remaking the Chinese State Strategies, society and security Edited by Chien-min Chao and Bruce J. Dickson |
| Korean Society Civil society, democracy and the state Edited by Charles K. Armstrong |
| The Making of Modern Korea Adrian Buzo |
| The Resurgence of East Asia 500, 150 and 50 year perspectives Edited by Giovanni Arrighi, Takeshi Hamashita and Mark Selden |
| Chinese Society, second edition Change, conflict and resistance Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden |
| Ethnicity in Asia Edited by Colin Mackerras |
| The Battle for Asia From decolonization to globalization Mark T. Berger |
| State and Society in 21st-Century China Edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen |
| Japans Quiet Transformation Social change and civil society in the 21st century Jeff Kingston |
| Confronting the Bush Doctrine Critical views from the Asia-Pacific Edited by Mel Gurtov and Peter Van Ness |
| China in War and Revolution, 18951949 Peter Zarrow |
| The Future of USKorean Relations The imbalance of power Edited by John Feffer |
| Working in China Ethnographies of labor and workplace transformations Edited by Ching Kwan Lee |
| Korean Society, second edition Civil society, democracy and the state Edited by Charles K. Armstrong |
| Singapore The state and the culture of excess Souchou Yao |
| Pan-Asianism in Modern Japanese History Colonialism, regionalism and borders Edited by Sven Saaler and J. Victor Koschmann |
| The Making of Modern Korea, second edition Adrian Buzo |
| Re-writing Culture in Taiwan Edited by Fang-long Shih, Stuart Thompson, and Paul-Franois Tremlett |
| Reclaiming Chinese Society The new social activism Edited by You-tien Hsing and Ching Kwan Lee |
| Girl Reading Girl in Japan Edited by Tomoko Aoyama and Barbara Hartley |
| Chinese Politics State, society and the market Edited by Peter Hays Gries and Stanley Rosen |
| Chinese Society, third edition Change, conflict and resistance Edited by Elizabeth J. Perry and Mark Selden |
| Mapping Modernity in Shanghai Space, gender, and visual culture in the Sojourners City, 185398 Samuel Y. Liang |
| Minorities and Multiculturalism in Japanese Education An interactive perspective Edited by Ryoko Tsuneyoshi, Kaori H. Okano and Sarane Boocock |
| Japans Wartime Medical Atrocities Comparative inquiries in science, history, and ethics Edited by Jing-Bao Nie, Nanyan Guo, Mark Selden and Arthur Kleinman |
| State and Society in Modern Rangoon Donald M. Seekins |
| Learning Chinese, Turning Chinese Becoming sinophone in a globalised world Edward McDonald |
| Aesthetic Constructions of Korean Nationalism Spectacle, politics and history Hong Kal |
| Popular Culture and the State in East and Southeast Asia Edited by Nissim Otmazgin and Eyal Ben Ari |
| Japans Outcaste Abolition The struggle for national inclusion and the making of the modern state Noah Y. McCormack |
| The Market and Temple Fairs of Rural China Red fire Gene Cooper |
| The Role of American NGOs in Chinas Modernization Invited influence
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