Dispossession without Development

Land Grabs in Neoliberal India

Michael Levien

Modern South Asia

Advances a new theory of the relationship between dispossession and capitalism
Rare ethnographic study of villages dispossessed for a Special Economic Zone
Novel look at how real estate speculation transforms a village and the implications for India's rural populations
Draws on new archival sources for understanding changing political economy of dispossession in India
Advances the controversial thesis that dispossession in contemporary India is decreasingly developmental

Dispossession without Development

Land Grabs in Neoliberal India

Michael Levien

Description

Since the mid-2000s, India has been beset by widespread farmer protests against land dispossession. Dispossession Without Development demonstrates that beneath these conflicts lay a profound shift in regimes of dispossession. While the postcolonial Indian state dispossessed land mostly for public-sector industry and infrastructure, since the 1990s state governments have become land brokers for private real estate capital. Using the case of a village in Rajasthan that was dispossessed for a private Special Economic Zone, the book ethnographically illustrates the exclusionary trajectory of capitalism driving dispossession in contemporary India. Taking us into the lives of diverse villagers in "Rajpura," the book meticulously documents the destruction of agricultural livelihoods, the marginalization of rural labor, the spatial uneveness of infrastructure provision, and the dramatic consequences of real estate speculation for social inequality and village politics. Illuminating the structural underpinnings of land struggles in contemporary India, this book will resonate in any place where "land grabs" have fueled conflict in recent years.

Dispossession without Development

Land Grabs in Neoliberal India

Michael Levien

Modern South Asia

Acknowledgements
Map
Personae Dramatis
Preface: From Narmada to Rajpura
1. Introduction
2. Genesis of the Land Broker State
3. Rajpura
4. Dispossession
5. Differentiation by Speculation
6. Peasants in a Knowledge Economy
7. On the Margins of a World City
8. Politics After Dispossession
9. Conclusion: "Land Wars" and Development
Notes
References

Dispossession without Development

Land Grabs in Neoliberal India

Michael Levien

Modern South Asia

Author Information

Michael Levien, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University

Michael Levien is assistant professor of sociology at Johns Hopkins University. He received his PhD in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley in 2013. He has been researching and writing about rural land dispossession in India for the past fifteen years. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Dispossession without Development

Land Grabs in Neoliberal India

Michael Levien

Modern South Asia

Reviews and Awards

Winner of Global Development Studies Book Award, International Studies Association
Winner of Sociology of Development Section Outstanding Book Award, American Sociological Association
Winner of Global and Transnational Sociology Section Best Book Award, American Sociological Association
Winner of Political Economy of World System (PEWS) Section Distinguished Book Award, American Sociological Association
Honorable Mention, Asia and Asian-America Section Book Award, American Sociological Association

"Levin's Dispossession without Development exhibits the best of U.S. Sociology: rich empirical data, causal argumentation, and generalizable claims." - Dana Kornberg, University of Michigan, Social Forces

"This scholarly masterpiece contributes to the existing body of literature on land dispossession and capitalism in general and critical sociology of land dispossession." - Animesh Roy, Giri Institute of Development Studies, American Journal of Sociology

"This book offers a novel analysis of the mechanisms and consequences of economic dispossession. Based on long-term ethnographic immersion, Levien shows how peasants are maneuvered into giving up their land. This is a must read for anyone interested in development and markets-destined to become a classic of political economy." - Michael Burawoy, Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley "

"Levien shows precisely how state land acquisition in the name of development impoverishes the vulnerable, amplifies inequalities, and fractures collective identities. Amidst the self-congratulatory clamor around the story of India ascendant, when tall claims triumph over facts, this sober and compelling book is all the more valuable." - Amita Baviskar, Professor of Sociology, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi "

"This is a masterful study of how macro forces are refracted through local dynamics of caste, class, and gender to produce inequality. It stands out not only as a seminal theoretical statement on the sociology of land dispossession, but also as critical to our understanding of the on-the-ground effects of development in contemporary India." - Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, Brown University "

"Dispossession without Development is a tour de force, establishing a new benchmark for a critical sociology of postcolonial societies. Levien combines immersive ethnography with analytical rigor to show the devolution of the Indian developmental state into a land-broker. This is historically informed public sociology at its finest." - Manu Goswami, Associate Professor of History, NYU "