Monthly Archives: June 2011

Friction and Global Connection

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Tsing, Anna L. 2005. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Anna Tsing’s Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection looks at the Indonesian rainforest as a space of “awkward engagement” (xi) involving an ensemble cast of characters, … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Assemblages, Boundaries, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Networks, Post-Colonial, Scale, Spatiality, Territory, Violence | 1 Comment

Frontiers: Civil Society and Nature

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Redclift, Michael. 2006. Frontiers: Histories of Civil Society and Nature. Boston: MIT Press. Through a series of brief case studies, Michael Redclift explores the meanings, practices, and imaginaries associated with frontiers, which he analyzes through the mutually interacting interfaces of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Frontiers, Henri Lefebvre, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Place, Power, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Frontiers: Civil Society and Nature

Thread of Blood on the Frontier

Posted on June 18, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Alonso, Ana María. 1995. Thread of Blood: Colonialism, Revolution, and Gender on Mexico’s Northern Frontier. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press. Ana María Alonso traces the “thread of blood” that links frontier settlers’ warfare in Chihuahua against indigenous groups to … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Gender, Hegemony, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Territory, The Body, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

How the Indians Lost their Land

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Banner, Stuart. 2005. How the Indians Lost their Land: Law and Power on the Frontier. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Stuart Banner’s main thesis is that the loss of U.S. Indian land cannot be reduced to a story of violent dispossession. … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Frontiers, Land, Law, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

The Frontier Theses

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Turner, Frederick Jackson. 2009. The Significance of the Frontier in American History. New York: Penguin. Fredrick Jackson Turner writes his famous essay (“The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” 1893) on the frontier just as the census bureau proclaimed … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Land, Law, Nation/Nationalism, Spatiality | 1 Comment

Elements for a Theory of the Frontier

Posted on June 15, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

I had planned on discussing some texts on what I like to call “actually existing primitive accumulation,” but due to the exigencies of something I’m writing, I’m first going to plow through some stuff on frontiers—slippery little things. Raffestin, Claude. … Continue reading →

Posted in Boundaries, Frontiers, Land, Law, Maps, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Sovereignty, Spatiality, The State | Comments Off on Elements for a Theory of the Frontier

Some Aspects of the Southern Question

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Gramsci, Antonio. 1926. “Some Aspects of the Southern Question.” From Antonio Gramsci: Pre-Prison Writings (1994), edited by Richard Bellamy and translated by Virgina Cox. “Some Aspects of the Southern Question” is an incredible essay. Antonio Gramsci was arrested as he … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Antonio Gramsci, Hegemony, Historical Materialism, Historical-Geographies, Land, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Power, Spatiality, The State | Comments Off on Some Aspects of the Southern Question

The Origin of Capitalism

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Wood, Ellen Meiksins. 2002. The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. London: Verso. Ellen Meiksins Wood critiques accounts about the origin of capitalism—across the political spectrum, including Marxist’s—for overlooking the begging questions about what really drove the emergence of capitalism. … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, Spatiality | Comments Off on The Origin of Capitalism

Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Bernstein, Henry. 2010. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change. Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press Drawing from the Journal of Agrarian Change, Henry Bernstein defines agrarian political economy as investigating “the social relations and dynamics of production and reproduction, property and power in … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Gender, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Land, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation | 1 Comment

Theory of Peasant Cooperatives

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Chayanov, Alexander. 1991. The Theory of Peasant Cooperatives. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. [Intro and pp. 1-52.] In these chapters, Alexander Chayanov revisits some of the same ground as Lenin and Kautsky, but he does so with a much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Historical Materialism, Land, Marxism, Political Economy | 2 Comments