The Cultural Economy of Land is situated at two crossroads of agrarian history. The first is the cyclical seasonality of agriculture and the linear progressive time of technological innovation and political transformation; and the second is that of the economic and cultural meanings associated...

The central Gujarat region of western India is home to the entrepreneurial landowning Patel caste who have leveraged their rural dominance to become a powerful global diaspora of merchants, industrialists, and professionals. Investigating the Patels intriguing ascent, Vinay Gidwani analyzes its...

Introduction: The great agrarian conquest -- Masculine paternalism and colonial governance -- How villages were found -- In search of tenures -- The power of categories -- Codifying custom -- Remembered pasts -- Beyond the code -- Fear of the fragment -- Colonising the commons -- The promise of...