Panjab
is now synonymous with the figure of the peasant. The individual tiller
of the land who works the fields and feeds the nation. More recently,
we saw the peasant as a hero, descending to the capital and fighting
to abolish the draconian farm laws. But like all social identities, the
peasantry too was created by the process of history and the changing
modes of production. Navayana is proud to present Navyug Gill's Labors of Division: The Emergence of the Peasant in Colonial Panjab, a book which tells this story.
Labors of Division
shows us how colonial rule and native elites worked together (and
sometimes in opposition) to redefine how agriculture was organized. New
ideas of legalism, racialism and the economy changed agrarian identities
forever.
Old systems were reshaped and Panjab entered global capitalist
circuits. In doing so capitalism itself underwent transformation. Get the book today to read all about how peasants negotiated with and resisted capitalism as it became a global system.
