Labors of Division: Global Capitalism and the Emergence of the Peasant in Colonial Panjab

This book explores the colonial origins of global capitalism through a radical history of the concept of the peasant in Panjab during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It shows how British officials and ascendant Panjabis disrupted existing forms of identity and occupation to generate a new agrarian order, leading to the emergence of the hereditary caste peasant as a novel political subject. The book reveals the landowning peasant and landless laborer to be novel political subjects forged through the encounter between colonialism and struggles over culture and capital.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 376 pages
Publication date: 16 January 2024
Publisher: Stanford University Press

The peasant has been a subject of intense intellectual and political debate in modern history, often portrayed as a generic group that has existed throughout time. However, this assumption fails to recognize the diverse and complex nature of peasant societies. This book, focused on the transformation of Panjab during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, challenges the notion of peasants as a homogeneous group and explores the colonial origins of global capitalism.

Navyug Gill delves into how and why British officials and ascendant Panjabis disrupted existing forms of identity and occupation to create a new agrarian order in the countryside. The result was the emergence of the hereditary caste peasant, engaged in timeless cultivation, paradoxically created through a series of conceptual, juridical, and monetary divisions.

Far from being archaic relics, this book reveals the landowning peasant and landless laborer as novel political subjects forged through the encounter between colonialism and struggles over culture and capital within Panjabi society. It raises important questions about progress, exploitation, and knowledge, and how these operate within the vernacular operations of power.

By presenting this radical history, Gill aims to re-think understandings of the global past and offer alternative possibilities for emancipatory futures. The book contributes to the field of comparative political economy by challenging the notion of a universal peasantry and highlighting the specificities and complexities of peasant societies. It also sheds light on the ongoing struggles for social and economic justice in rural areas and the role of historical processes in shaping contemporary realities.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503637498