Full Description
Rural sociology in India has undergone dynamic phases and shifts; from early ethnographic field research conducted by anthropologists such as M. N Srinivas (1950), to more focused analyses on agrarian conflict and agrarian change through the 1960s and 70s, village studies in India continued to evolve. However, post economic liberalisation in the 90s, the village ceased to be central to ongoing sociological concerns, and the 'urban' took over, with studies on the city and demography becoming more prominent. The shifts in Indian economic policy during the early 1990s began to marginalize rural life and its agrarian economy in the national imagination. India's Villages studies this shift and argues that in 21st century India, the rural continues to play a significant role in contemporary life, just as much as the rural itself changes in form and nature. Through essays published in the EPW, the volume puts together 14 papers based on empirical studies carried out by sociologists, social anthropologists and economists over the past 15 years to begin a holistic conversation on the rural today.
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction: Revisiting the Rural
Section I: Rural Economies and Agrarian Lives
1. Agrarian Change and Social Mobility in Tamil Nadu
Göran Djurfeldt, Venkatesh Athreya, N Jayakumar, Staffan Lindberg, A Rajagopal, R Vidyasagar
2. Non-farm Diversification, Inequality and Mobility in Palanpur
Himanshu, Bhavna Joshi, Peter Lanjouw
3. Structural Change in Bihar's Rural Economy: Findings from a Longitudinal Study
Alakh N Sharma, Gerry Rodgers
4. Changes in Land Relations: The Political Economy of Land Reforms in a Kerala Village.
Suma Scaria
Section II: Relational Frames and Power Dynamics
5. Emergent Ruralities: Revisiting Village Life and Agrarian Change in Haryana.
Surinder S Jodhka
6. Land, Labour and Power: A Malwa Village, 1954-2012
Tommaso Sbriccoli
7. Migration, Bachelorhood and Discontent among the Patidars
Alice Tilche
8. F G Bailey's Bisipara Revisited
Tina Otten, Edward Simpson
Section III: Margins and Marginalities
9. Scheduled Caste Political Exclusion and Subordination in Rural Malwa, Punjab.
Nicolas Martin
10. Living Together Separately: Dalits in an Emergent Collectivity in a Rajasthan Village
Shashi Bhushan Singh
11. Historical Transformations in Boundary and Land Use in
New Delhi's Urban Villages
Sudev J Sheth
12. Hermit Village or Zomian Republic? An Update on the Political Socio-Economy of a Remote Himalayan Community.
Richard Axelby, Suzanne Rigaud
13. Inequality in Rural Nagaland: Changing Structures and Mechanisms
Andreas Küchle
In Lieu of Conclusion: Revisits and Revisions
14. Village Restudies, Trials and Tribulations.
Edward Simpson
Postscript/Afterword
