‘Though he is a landlord, that Sarpanch is my servant!’ Caste and democracy in a village of south India

Philip, Jessy K.

doi:10.1080/09584935.2017.1353951

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…These cultural meanings are in the bounded imagination of the self and the other, glued by a long history of deeply ingrained ideologies of hierarchy. It has been argued elsewhere that the ideologies of hierarchy instituted by the caste system dovetail with the agrarian hierarchies of landlordism to determine the trajectory of casteclass politics (Philip, 2017(Philip, , 2023. Caste ideologies and relations are a powerful mediating structure of economic action that needs to be foregrounded to comprehend the trajectory of agrarian change.…”

Section: Global Economic Processes and Repeasantizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Are We Without Land? Repeasantization and Caste in a Village of South India

Philip

2023

Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy: A triannual Journ

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The article explores the motivation for the reclamation of land-based livelihoods in a village in South India. In contrast to studies reporting a change in class position of small cultivators to wage workers due to pressures of depeasantization, this article argues for an agency-driven view of agrarian change. However, the article contends that such motivated acts of peasants to retain their autonomy are not solely derived from their interaction with economic processes. Fears of decline in status provide an extra-economic impetus to repeasantization. The loss of land-based livelihood implies social death for those castes with historical land occupation. A comparative perspective of the social framework of agriculture is essential to ground agency in social relations and comprehend the radical potential of peasant actions.

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Section: Global Economic Processes and Repeasantizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who Are We Without Land? Repeasantization and Caste in a Village of South India

Philip

2023

Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy: A triannual Journ

Self Cite

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“…A study of crop holiday by landowners in coastal Andhra shows that these owners refused to sow their lands not only to register their protest against nonremunerative prices, as often reported by newspapers but also as a way to discipline labour and tenants (Laxminarayana et al, 2011). I argued (Philip, 2017) elsewhere that ideological relations of landlordism hold back further democratization of village society. The argument that while landlords have found other sources of investment, land continues to be the primary source of their power seems to be pertinent in the light of these studies.…”

Section: Conceptualizing Caste In Political Economymentioning

confidence: 99%