Land Dispossession and Everyday Politics in Rural Eastern India

An important empirical and ethnographic contribution to the anthropological understanding of the localized dynamics of India’s new land wars

‘Land Dispossession and Everyday Politics in Rural Eastern India’ analyses the political mobilization of farmers in Singur, West Bengal, in defence of their farmland. By foregrounding the everyday politics of popular mobilization, the book sheds new light on the internal politics of one of India’s most talked-about new land wars.

Over the past decade India has witnessed a number of land wars that have centred crucially on the often forcible transfer of land from small farmers or indigenous groups to private companies. Among these, the land war that erupted in Singur, West Bengal, in 2006, went on to make national headlines and become paradigmatic of many of the challenges and social conflicts that arise when a state-led policy of swiftly transferring land to private sector companies encounters resistance on the ground. Land Dispossession and Everyday Politics in Rural Eastern India analyses the movement by Singur’s so-called unwilling farmers to retain and reclaim their farmland. By foregrounding the everyday politics of popular mobilization, the book sheds new light on the movement’s internal politics as well as on contentious issues rooted in everyday caste, class and gender relations.