Trailblazer economist Maryam Aslany reveals the untold story of ‘peasants’, in a much-anticipated exposé of the exploitation of the agricultural class

'A fascinating book, and a must-read' THOMAS PIKETTY

'Peasants is not just an extraordinary debut, it is that most precious rarity: an out-and-out masterpiece’ WILLIAM DALRYMPLE

'A story so rich and revealing it is reminiscent of Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads' NEW ZEALAND HERALD

Four crops, three continents, two billion lives: this is the hidden world that we all depend upon for survival. And it’s under threat.

For centuries, peasants stood at the heart of human society: feeding empires, leading revolutions, building modern states. Industrial modernity forced them into the shadows, replaced in our imagination by machines and megafarms. But the elimination of the peasantry is a myth. Today, peasants make up roughly a quarter of humanity. They underpin the global economy, stabilise food systems and protect fragile ecosystems. Peasants hold up the modern world, yet their labour and voices have been hidden in plain sight – until now.

In this landmark book, Maryam Aslany restores the peasantry to the centre of our global story. She embarks on an epic journey across three continents into some of the most remote places on earth – from India’s sugarcane fields to Cambodia’s rice plains, Peru’s cocaine valleys and Ghana’s cocoa belt – travelling deep into the landscapes where global supply chains begin. Here, she uncovers the lives behind some of the world’s most vital commodities. She speaks to farmers, migrant labourers and traffickers. Men driven to extremism or suicide by failing livelihoods, and women forced to bear the burden of agricultural labour. Families on the brink of survival.

As our demand for cheap goods intensifies, our most vital and innovative workforce is being driven towards collapse. The consequences are already starting to show: food insecurity, mass migration, ecological collapse. Far from being a relic of our past, the peasantry is essential to our future.

Blending personal stories with on-the-ground reporting and pioneering new research, Peasants is a far-reaching yet intimate portrait of the world in four crops – sugarcane, rice, coca and cocoa – and an urgent reminder that the story of the countryside is the story of us all.

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'Miraculous ... This is a major work, bound to ruffle feathers and stir debate' DAVID WENGROW

'Groundbreaking ... Opens a window onto a little-known world' LITERARY REVIEW

'Totally entrancing, utterly fascinating' ED CONWAY

Details

ISBN13: 9781526654786
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 352
Edition:
Publication Date:
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Publication City, Country: London, United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 23.2(H)x15(L)x3(W)469
Weight (gm): 469

Author Biography

Maryam Aslany’s work focuses on the crisis of the global countryside. Over the last fourteen years, she has carried out field research among agricultural societies in some of the most remote landscapes of Asia, Africa and Latin America. She is currently a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and a Research Associate at the African Studies Centre at the University of Oxford. She was previously a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, and a Research Fellow at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. She is the author of Contested Capital, and Harvest, an Audible podcast series.

Reviews

Peasants transformed the world in the past, and their views on fairness and sustainability will matter more than ever to shape the twenty-first century. A fascinating book, and a must-read -- THOMAS PIKETTY, bestselling author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Peasants has earned a place in that very short shelf of books which genuinely make you see the world anew. Maryam Aslany has thought deeply, read widely, travelled globally and observed minutely to produce a book whose insights turn our preconceptions upside down. In often exquisite prose, illuminated with brilliant shafts of scholarship, she has written a text that is as profound as it is wide-ranging and, potentially, world-changing. Over and again she reminds us of the crucial but usually ignored role that peasants still play in keeping the world in balance, "holding in check an industrial world which has none of their reverence for nature. Our fragile world is only as intact as it is because of them." Peasants is not just an extraordinary debut, it is that most precious rarity: an out-and-out masterpiece -- WILLIAM DALRYMPLE, bestselling author of The Golden Road
On each page of this remarkable book, Aslany marshals evidence to counter received wisdom about the inevitable extinction of global peasantry. As we drift into a world of megacities, she shows how cultural and intellectual forces across the political spectrum conspire to render another quarter of contemporary humanity invisible, with catastrophic consequences for our future. Shifting registers, from deep history to first-hand encounters with farmers and landscapes across the world, Aslany builds an argument of astonishing scope and consistency. There is also a miraculous deftness of touch to her writing, which makes the argument of Peasants not just forceful, but riveting to read. This is a major work, bound to ruffle feathers and stir debate -- DAVID WENGROW, bestselling author of The Dawn of Everything
Totally entrancing, utterly fascinating. I found myself reeling (in a good way) each time I put it down. I hope this book, and the journey Maryam Aslany takes us on, prompts us all to think more deeply about the complex, enduring relationship between those who tend the land and everyone else -- ED CONWAY, bestselling author of Material World
It is a story so rich and revealing it is reminiscent of Peter Frankopan’s The Silk Roads ... If the first half of the book is a history of peasants in China, Russia and England, in the second half Aslany meets rural workers in Africa, Peru and Asia: a remarkable feat of journalism ... Combines erudite scholarship with empathetic reportage – a rare and powerful combination * New Zealand Herald *
Groundbreaking ... impeccably researched ... A bravura performance that opens a window onto a little-known world * Literary Review *
Brilliant ... This book will enrage and horrify some of my fellow members of the House of Lords. That is a measure of its power and importance -- Baroness Bennett * The House Magqzine *