The Peasant, then and now: Thirty years of Ranajit Guha's Elementary Aspects
A Subaltern Studies workshop was held at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies to mark 30 years of the publication of Ranajit Guha's Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India. The workshop was on 15 and 16 February 2013 and a public event was held on the evening of the 15th.
Ranajit Guha's book was, as is acknowledged, the flagship of Subaltern Studies when it was launched and was extremely influential in shaping the study of peasant politics. Subaltern Studies subsequently moved in other directions. Many have claimed that the forms of peasant politics in contemporary India have changed so much that Ranajit Guha's framework is no longer appropriate. However, precisely in the context of recent struggles in West Bengal, Orissa and other places over land acquisition, as well as continued insurgency in many areas of Central India, Ranajit Guha's classic seems to call for a fresh look.
This year marks 50 years of CSDS. Ranajit Guha turned 90 years old in May 2013.
Panel: Shahid Amin, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Gyanendra Pandey, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak
Chair: Shail Mayaram