The Politics of Swidden farming

Environment and Development in Eastern India

By (author) Debojyoti Das

Publication date:

28 September 2018

Publisher

Anthem Press

Dimensions:

229x153mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783087754

The Politics of Swidden Farming offers a new explanation for the changes taking place in swidden farming practised in the highlands of eastern India through an ethnographic case study. The book traces the story of agroecological change and state intervention to colonial times, and helps understand contemporary agrarian change by contextualizing farming not just in terms of the science and technology of agriculture or conservation and biodiversity but also in terms of technologies of rule. The Politics of Swidden Farming adds a new dimension to the underdeveloped literature on shifting cultivation in South Asia by focusing on the social ecology of farming and agrarian change in the hills. It provides a comparative viewpoint to state-centred and donor-driven development in the frontier region by bringing in different actors and institutions that become the actants and agents of social change.

List of Illustrations; Foreword; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Methodology and Fieldwork: Negotiating Hazardous Fields; Chapter 3 Ethnography, Violence and Memory: Telling Violence in the Naga Hills; Chapter 4 Jhum and the ‘Science of Empire’: Ecological Discourse, Ethnographic Knowledge and Colonial Mediation; Chapter 5 Land and Land-Based Relations in a Yimchunger Naga Village: From a Book View to a Field View; Chapter 6 The Politics of Time: The Missionary Calendar, the Protestant Ethic and Labour Relations among the Eastern Nagas; Chapter 7 The Micro-Politics of Development Intervention: Village Patrons, Community Participation and the NEPED Project; Chapter 8 Conclusion; Notes, Bibliography; Index.

‘This is one of the best books to date on swidden (jhum) farming. Based on engaged new fieldwork in Northeast India and a rereading of its history, Debojyoti Das gives us an important re-evaluation of agroecology, with global implications, and potential, going far beyond India. His book deserves wide attention.’
—Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University, USA