Agrarian Studies and the Caste Conundrum

The article calls for a recognition of caste as a structuring reality of agrarian life in South Asia. Such a recognition may also have a larger and comparative bearing beyond India. The article also argues for a simultaneous recognition of the serious problems with the almost universally accepted “idealistic” conceptualizations of caste. Further, approaching caste as an aspect of land relations and the realities of economic processes would significantly enhance our understanding of its obvious materiality, which makes it persist in contemporary times. A widespread “blindness” towards caste in the agrarian studies and, likewise, the imaginations of caste primarily as a “religious” phenomenon have broader academic and political implications. Bringing them together would thus require a recognition and opening-up of this academic conundrum. A critical engagement with the disciplinary framings of agrarian studies and, perhaps more importantly, of caste studies is thus called for.

Patriarcado y subsunción indirecta en las unidades domésticas ganaderas de Uruguay=Patriarchy and Indirect Subsumption in the domestic livestock units in Uruguay

<p><strong>Resumen</strong></p><p>Patriarcado y capitalismo actúan como un sistema unificado de explotación y dominación. En los estudios agrarios, la categoría subsunción indirecta ha permitido mostrar la extracción capitalista de plusvalor de las unidades domésticas y campesinas, a través de la transacción de sus mercancías. Este artículo se focaliza en evidenciar los procesos de explotación del trabajo de las mujeres en las unidades domésticas de producción agropecuaria ganaderas de Uruguay, señalando la presencia y apropiación de su trabajo productivo y reproductivo, y el rol que juegan la concepción sobre su trabajo, el control del cuerpo y los pactos patriarcales como mecanismos en la doble expoliación de su trabajo, al interior de las unidades.<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p>Patriarchy and capitalism act as a unified system of exploitation and domination. In agrarian studies, the indirect subsumption category has made it possible to show the capitalist extraction of capital gain from domestic and peasant units, through the transaction of their merchandise. This article focuses on highlighting the processes of exploitation of women's work in domestic units of livestock production in Uruguay, pointing out the presence and appropriation of their productive and reproductive work, and the role played by the conception of their work, the control of the body and patriarchal pacts as a mechanism in the double plunder of their work, within the units.</p>

Decolonizing Agrarian Knowledge and the Emergence of Indonesian Critical Agrarian Studies

Agricultural production growth has been the main priority in agrarian development in Indonesia but its ends and means have been varied. In the colonial era, an export- oriented colonial plantation system resulted in the transformation of the Indonesian land tenurial system. In the post-colonial period, Soekarno’s regime pursued agrarian development seeking to strengthening people’s land rights through its land reform policies. Land rights were seen as the basis for agricultural production. Soeharto’s New Order regime implemented its Green Revolution policy by developing agricultural mechanization and extensification which managed to improve agricultural production, but it gave greater privileges to the rural elite class and caused dependence on foreign inputs and aid. All agrarian policies were supported by knowledge produced through the research of influential institutions and individuals, including critical responses against the impacts of the transformation of land tenure. In this context, knowledge in agrarian studies with its critical perspectives were re-shaped as part of the process of knowledge decolonization.

Reinvigorating a political ecology of the global agri-food system

This contribution is a critical review of research on the global agri-food system directly or indirectly identified as political ecology (PE). It shows how food, famine and agricultural production were important topics to early proponents of PE, especially with regards to a critique of neo-Malthusian thought. It then traces further developments in the field and highlights the productive tension between materialist and poststructuralist streams, as well as the influence of actor-network theory. Further on, the paper discusses three neighbouring theories and frameworks with a potential to stimulate current political ecologies of food and agriculture, namely critical agrarian studies, food regime theory and world-ecology. Finally, seven clusters of potential research topics for a political ecology of the global agri-food system are identified. In conclusion, the relevance of PE as a theoretical lens is reiterated and the need for fruitful application of political ecology and related approaches is expressed.

Reversing Channels and Unsettling Binaries: Rethinking Migration and Agrarian Change under Expanded Border and Immigration Enforcement

Unauthorized migration under global regimes of border and immigration enforcement has become more risky and costly than ever. Despite the increasing challenges of reaching, remaining in, and remitting from destination countries, scholarship exploring the implications of migration for agricultural and environmental change in migrant-sending regions has largely overlooked the prevalent experiences and consequences of “failed” migration. Drawing from recent fieldwork in Central America with deportees, this paper demonstrates how contemporary migration at times reverses the “channels” of agrarian change in migrant-sending regions: instead of driving remittance inflow and labor loss, migration under contemporary enforcement can result in debt and asset dispossession, increased vulnerability, and heightened labor exploitation. Diverse migration outcomes under expanded enforcement also reveal a need to move beyond the analytical binary that emphasizes differentiations between migrant and non-migrant groups while overlooking the profound socioeconomic unevenness experienced among migrants themselves. With grounding in critical agrarian studies, feminist geographies, and emerging political ecologies of migration, this paper argues that increased attention to the highly dynamic and diverse lived experiences of migration under expanded enforcement stands to enhance our understanding of the multiple ways in which contemporary out-migration shapes livelihoods and landscapes in migrant-sending regions.