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1 Sugden, Fraser. 2013. Pre-capitalist reproduction on the Nepal Tarai: semi-feudal agriculture in an era of globalisation. Journal of Contemporary Asia, 43(3):519-545. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/00472336.2013.763494]
Agricultural economics ; Capitalism ; Globalization ; Social participation ; Political aspects ; Feudalism ; Markets ; Land tenure ; Land reform ; Households ; Case studies / Nepal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046791)
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00472336.2013.763494
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046791.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H046791.pdf
(346 KB)
This article highlights the continued significance of pre-capitalist formations in shaping the trajectory of economic transition in peripheral regions, even in an era of neo-liberal globalisation. There is a tendency for Marxist scholars to assume the inevitable “dominance” of capitalism over older modes of production. Using a case study from Nepal's far eastern Tarai, this paper seeks to understand the reproduction of feudal social relations in a region which is both accessible and integrated into regional and global markets. The paper traces the early subordination of indigenous groups to feudalism from the eighteenth century onwards, and the political and ideological processes through which these social relations were reinforced. Through examining the historical role of feudal-colonial alliances, however, the paper notes that pre-capitalist reproduction in Nepal is a dynamic process, actively negotiated and reinforced by the external imperatives of capitalist expansion itself as well as through the entrenched political power of landed classes. Today feudal and capitalist formations co-exist and articulate, with surplus divided between landlords and non-farm employers. Understanding the complex dynamics of feudal or “semi-feudal” reproduction in an era of globalisation is crucial if one is to identify avenues for collective mobilisation against inequitable pre-capitalist and capitalist class relations.
2 Sugden, Fraser. 2017. A mode of production flux: the transformation and reproduction of rural class relations in lowland Nepal and North Bihar. Dialectical Anthropology, 41(2):129-161. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-016-9436-3]
Agricultural production ; Climate change ; Cultivated land ; Lowland ; Landowners ; Agrarian structure ; Tenant farmers ; Labour ; Living standards ; Political aspects ; Capitalism ; Feudalism ; Colonialism ; Rural communities ; Households ; Social aspects ; History ; Caste systems ; Migration ; Economic situation ; Indebtedness ; Farm income ; Remuneration / Nepal / India / North Bihar / Tarai / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Madhesh / Mithilanchal / Madhubani / Dhanusha / Morang / Purnea / Sunsari
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047834)
(2.24 MB)
The Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia represents a peripheral region far from the centers of global capitalist production, and this is all the more apparent in Mithilanchal, a cultural domain spanning the Nepal/Bihar border. The agrarian structure can be considered ‘semi-feudal’ in character, dominated by landlordism and usury, and backed up by political and ideological processes. Paradoxically, Mithilanchal is also deeply integrated into the global capitalist market and represents a surplus labor pool for the urban centers of Western India as well as the Persian Gulf in a classic articulation between pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production. A review of the changes in the agrarian structure over recent decades in the context of globalisation, out-migration and climate stress, shows that while landlordism remains entrenched, the relationship between the marginal and tenant farmer majority and the landed classes has changed, with the breakdown of ideological ties and reduced dependence on single landlords. The paper thus ends on a positive note, as the contemporary juncture represents an opportune moment for new avenues of political mobilization among the peasantry.
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