Peasants' Choices? Indian Agriculture and the Limits of Commercialization in Nineteenth-Century Bihar
本文以19世纪印度比哈尔邦为例，区分了农业中的不同选择，分析了地主控制下的灌溉区与鸦片、靛蓝等强制商业化作物的生产，强调预付款和中间商的作用，揭示了生态、习俗和地方政治对农业决策的约束。
The article attempts to distinguish and locate choices in agricultural production, with special reference to Bihar, India, during the nineteenth century. On the one hand, it considers closely managed and extensively irrigated areas, long involved in trade under the overall control of 'landlords', and, on the other hand, the expanding production of opium, and also of indigo and sugar (so-called 'forced' commercialization), identifying common features and continuities of production and marketing. Particular the importance of advance payments and local intermediaries is stressed. Thus, in contrast with the more usual evolutionary models, based on unitary categories and modes, the essay illustrates ecological, customary, collective, and local political constraints upon agricultural decisions; and this leads to the identification in turn of their different kinds and levels.