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Peasants on Plantations
Subaltern Strategies of Labor and Resistance in the Pisco Valley, Peru
-
Vincent Peloso
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
1999
About this book
After the 1854 abolition of slavery in Peru, a new generation of plantation owners turned to a system of peasant tenantry to maintain cotton production through the use of cheap labor. In Peasants on Plantations Vincent C. Peloso analyzes the changing social and economic relationships governing the production of cotton in the Pisco Valley, a little-studied area of Peru’s south coast. Challenging widely held assumptions about the system of relations that tied peasants to the land, Peloso’s work examines the interdependence of the planters, managers, and peasants—and the various strategies used by peasants in their struggle to resist control by the owners.
Grounded in the theoretical perspectives of subaltern studies and drawing on an extremely complete archive of landed estates that includes detailed regular reports by plantation managers on all aspects of farming life, Peasants on Plantations reveals the intricate ways peasants, managers, and owners manipulated each other to benefit their own interests. As Peloso demonstrates, rather than a simple case of domination of the peasants by the owners, both parties realized that negotiation was the key to successful growth, often with the result that peasants cooperated with plantation growth strategies in order to participate in a market economy. Long-term contracts gave tenants and sharecroppers many opportunities to make farming choices, to assert claims on the land, compete among themselves, and participate in plantation expansion. At the same time, owners strove to keep the peasants in debt and well aware of who maintained ultimate control.
Peasants on Plantations offers a largely untold view of the monumental struggle between planters and peasants that was fundamental in shaping the agrarian history of Peru. It will interest those engaged in Latin American studies, anthropology, and peasant and agrarian studies.
Author / Editor information
Vincent C. Peloso is Associate Professor of History at Howard University.
Reviews
“The importance of [Peloso’s] book derives from its careful assessment of a neglected case study and the broader implications of the findings. . . . Professionals in agrarian, Latin American, and Third World studies will be interested in this well-done case study; at the same time, the detailed description of how labor and management interacted in a plantation setting should attract a more general reading audience. The narrative is fascinating and readable.” - Michael A. Morris, Perspectives on Political Science
“Peloso illuminates the lives, strategies, and ultimate significance of cotton workers in a clear, original manner that will benefit scholars of modern Peru and of the export economy in Latin America. This well-crafted book succeeds in bringing the overlooked workers of cotton plantations onto the historical stage.” - Charles F. Walker, American Historical Review
“[A] detailed historical analysis of the social and economic world of Peruvian cotton plantations from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s. . . . [A] diversified and vivid picture of plantation life. . . . Peloso offers an important contribution to modern Peruvian history that will also receive attention among historians working on agrarian history in other parts of Latin America.” - Thomas Krüggeler, The Historian
“[A] sustained, empirically grounded account of far-reaching socioeconomic transformations in Peru’s south coastal Pisco valley between the mid-19th century and the first half of the 20th century. . . . [A] significant addition to the burgeoning literature on Latin American postcolonial plantations. Peloso offers challenging reading for all who are interested in the anthropology of agrarian societies and the social dynamics of agricultural capitalism.” - Bartholomew Dean, American Ethnologist
“[A] compelling, empirically grounded analysis of the evolution of plantation labour arrangements. . . . [A] significant addition to the scholarship on plantation society in turn-of-the-century Latin America. Peloso succeeds admirably in deconstructing stereotypical images of plantations, and in showing the central contribution of subaltern groups to the emergence of modern Peru.” - David Nugent, Latin American Studies
“[S]ignificantly deepens our understanding of both rural labor forms and the role played by peasants in the formation of Peruvian rural society and culture. . . . Peasants on Plantations makes valuable contributions to the literature concerning rural labor relations, the social order that evolved on the coastal cotton plantations of Peru, and the Latin American peasantry in general. . . . [This] balanced and fascinating social history ultimately stands out simply because of the clear understanding it provides of peasant initiative and resilience in the often harsh world of the commercial cotton plantation.” - Erick D. Langer, Hispanic American Historical Review
“[A] compelling, empirically grounded analysis of the evolution of plantation labour arrangements. . . . [A] significant addition to the scholarship on plantation society in turn-of-the-century Latin America. Peloso succeeds admirably in deconstructing stereotypical images of plantations, and in showing the central contribution of subaltern groups to the emergence of modern Peru.”
-- David Nugent Latin American Studies
“[A] detailed historical analysis of the social and economic world of Peruvian cotton plantations from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1930s. . . . [A] diversified and vivid picture of plantation life. . . . Peloso offers an important contribution to modern Peruvian history that will also receive attention among historians working on agrarian history in other parts of Latin America.”
-- Thomas Krüggeler The Historian
“[A] sustained, empirically grounded account of far-reaching socioeconomic transformations in Peru’s south coastal Pisco valley between the mid-19th century and the first half of the 20th century. . . . [A] significant addition to the burgeoning literature on Latin American postcolonial plantations. Peloso offers challenging reading for all who are interested in the anthropology of agrarian societies and the social dynamics of agricultural capitalism.”
-- Bartholomew Dean American Ethnologist
“[S]ignificantly deepens our understanding of both rural labor forms and the role played by peasants in the formation of Peruvian rural society and culture. . . . Peasants on Plantations makes valuable contributions to the literature concerning rural labor relations, the social order that evolved on the coastal cotton plantations of Peru, and the Latin American peasantry in general. . . . [This] balanced and fascinating social history ultimately stands out simply because of the clear understanding it provides of peasant initiative and resilience in the often harsh world of the commercial cotton plantation.”
-- Erick D. Langer Hispanic American Historical Review
“Peloso illuminates the lives, strategies, and ultimate significance of cotton workers in a clear, original manner that will benefit scholars of modern Peru and of the export economy in Latin America. This well-crafted book succeeds in bringing the overlooked workers of cotton plantations onto the historical stage.”
-- Charles F. Walker American Historical Review
“The importance of [Peloso’s] book derives from its careful assessment of a neglected case study and the broader implications of the findings. . . . Professionals in agrarian, Latin American, and Third World studies will be interested in this well-done case study; at the same time, the detailed description of how labor and management interacted in a plantation setting should attract a more general reading audience. The narrative is fascinating and readable.”
-- Michael A. Morris Perspectives on Political Science
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
March 3, 1999
eBook ISBN:
9780822397472
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
280
Other:
4 b&w photographs, 11 tables, 4 maps, 2 figures
