Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770

by Sugata Bose

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521266949
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/11/1993
Series:	The New Cambridge History of India , #3
Pages:	222
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.63(d)

Table of Contents

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.