Malay Peasants Coping with the World: Breaking the Community Circle

In the literature concerning the peasantries of the world, Malay Peasants Coping with the World stands out as a novelty. Well informed of the major issues confronting social scientists attempting to measure the impact of the Green Revolution among innovating peasants, it is also exceptionally rich in terms of empirical findings. Based on fieldwork carried out over a period of fifteen years in two Malay villages, it describes with accuracy and analyses the evolution of the peasants' work and life. This included the impact of mechanization and the disqualification of female farm labour as well as the remarkable improvements in education and social mobility among the majority of households. The book is structured around a series of highly original maps which serve to illustrate the extent to which the village communities are increasingly linked with the rest of the world and how their members cope with it.