Transitions: Methods, Theory, Politics

Tom Brass (DPhil 1982) formerly lectured in the SPS Faculty at Cambridge University and directed studies for Queens’ College. He edited The Journal of Peasant Studies for almost two decades, and has published extensively on agrarian issues and rural labour relations, including Marxism Missing, Missing Marxism (Brill, 2021).

• AcknowledgementsList of Figures and TablesIntroduction (Steps Forward or Backwards?)Reified Notions, Fantasmic Representations?Transition, Critique, SilenceMarxist Methodology?A Lesser Status and a Distant Place?A Distant Place as a Greater StatusThemespart 1Travelling On1 Racisms (Home and Away)Introduction: A Place in the WorldBlood of the FoundersThe Good Things of This WorldMusic, Speech, PassionA Faint Uneasy MovementThey Are Our BrothersOne’s Own Free WillTo See with Distorted VisionAvoiding the QuestionSamuel Smiles RevisitedA Dearth of WorkersSteady Work, Job SecurityConclusion2 Anti-capitalisms (Lessons Unlearned by Postmodernists)Introduction: The Anti-capitalism of Pro-slavery DiscourseFor the Mutual Benefit of BothPro-slavery and/as (Conservative) Anti-capitalismForging New Chains for ThemselvesAll Capital Is Created by Labour(Pro-slavery) Contradictions, (Postmodern) SimilaritiesPro-slavery, Postmodernism, and Identity PoliticsEmpowering PopulismConclusion3 Transitions (Real and Imagined)Introduction: Simple Transitions?The Parting to Come?Trading PlacesFeudalism, but Not Yet …Free but Tied?Workers, or Tenants?Modes and BeamsHow Do We Know?Since the Beginning of the WorldConclusion4 Trajectories (to and from Unfreedom)Introduction: Quo Vadis, Domine?1950 to 19801980 to 20002000 to the PresentTheory, Methods, ProblemsIndia: 18th Century OnwardsIndia: 1960s OnwardsUK: 2015 OnwardsConclusionpart 2On Travel5 Travellers, or Tourists? (Journeys Outside Europe)Introduction: An Instinctive Simplicity, a Thoughtless IdealismHello, I Must Be GoingTourists Who Are Not TouristsThe Ruin(s) of Time, the Time of Ruin(s)Is Your Journey Really Necessary?Traveller’s TalesRagpickers of HistoryUnevolved PeoplePristine Other, Untouched LandConclusion6 Tourists, or Travellers? (European Journeys)Introduction: Songs of TravelCity and CountrysideClass, Race, BloodAway from HomeAlways Defeated?Land, Politics, FascismPeasants, Ancient and ModernConclusion7 Arrivals, Not Departures (on Never Leaving Venice)Introduction: Venice, Tourism and the Agrarian MythThe Ox SpokeIt Is Not Easy to Do One’s DutyLoaded Pistols, Ominous ChatterReal and Loveable?A Dream Long LostConclusion8 Other Worlds (Neo-populist Journeys)Introduction: Worlds of Difference?Chayanov: The Economic CaseChayanov: The Economic Case AgainstChayanov: The Political Case AgainstUndiscovered Country?Journeys: Space, Time, PoliticsValuable Warnings, Wholesome ReprimandsConclusionConclusion (Better Worlds?)BibliographyAuthor IndexSubject Index