'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.
--
'Miraculous ... This is a major work, bound to ruffle feathers and stir
debate' DAVID WENGROW
'Totally entrancing, utterly fascinating' ED CONWAY
About the Author
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.
