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Tom Brass

February 15, 2024

Tom Brass is an academic who has written widely on peasant studies. For many years he was at the University of Cambridge as an affiliated lecturer in their Faculty of Social and Political Sciences and at Queens' College, Cambridge as their Director of Studies of the Social and Political Sciences. For many years he was an, and then the, editor of the Journal of Peasant Studies.[1][2] Murray reports Brass as being "dismissive of the cultural turn in peasant studies" and the rise of post-modern perspectives and his notion that this has been a conservative process and that it has lent support to neoliberalism.[3]

Biography edit

Born on 3 March 1946, Tom (Thomas Ferdinand Norman) Brass was educated at boarding schools run by the Dominicans (Blackfriars, Llanarth and Laxton), studied social sciences (sociology, anthropology) at the new universities (Essex, Sussex) and then taught these same subjects at the old ones (Durham, Cambridge). He conducted fieldwork research in eastern Peru during the mid-1970s and in Northern India during the 1980s. An account by him of his arrest, interrogation, imprisonment and expulsion from Peru is contained in ‘The Sabotage of Anthropology and the Anthropologist as Saboteur’, The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford, Vol. XIII, No. 2 (1982). (Reprinted together with a postscript in Labour Markets, Identities, Controversies, pages 181-191).

Work edit

Described by James Petras (Science and Society, Vol. 77, No. 3, 2013, p. 434) as ‘one of the United Kingdom’s leading Marxist scholars’, much of what Brass has published deals with two contentious and much-debated issues in the area of development studies: the link between unfree labour and capitalism, and the political impact of the ‘new’ populist postmodernism. His views have influenced others writing about these same issues.

First, he challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that capitalist transformation of the agrarian sector automatically leads to the replacement of unfree workers with free equivalents. Where a worker is unable to sell his/her own labour-power, such a person is not free, and thus according to political economy not part of a proletariat. This is regardless of employment duration, whether s/he receives a wage, is a local or a migrant, or has access to land. In their conflict with rural labour, employers reproduce, introduce or reintroduce unfree relations, a process of workforce decomposition/recomposition Brass calls deproletarianisation. Its object is to discipline and cheapen labour-power, an economic advantage in a global context where agricultural producers have to become increasingly cost-conscious to remain competitive.

And second, he has challenged the prevailing view that the ‘cultural turn’ is a politically progressive contribution to development studies. According to Brass, the ‘new’ populist postmodernism recuperated a specifically cultural dimension of ‘peasant-ness’, a discourse associated most powerfully with the Subaltern Studies project, formulated initially in the context of Asian historiography and latterly with regard to Latin American history. For the ‘new’ populist postmodernism this analytical re-essentialization of peasant did two things. It rejected Enlightenment discourse as an inauthentic Eurocentric colonial imposition, thereby recovering a hitherto unheard grassroots voice that was authentically nationalist.

For this reason, postmodern interpretations of agrarian mobilisations in Latin America and India nowadays insist that these are ‘new’ social movements, the defining characteristic of which is the non-class identity (religion, ethnicity, gender, regionalism, nationalism) deployed by their participants. Consequently, postmodernists claim, such mobilisations are antagonistic to socialism, unconnected with fundamental changes in production relations, and thus incompatible with revolutionary transformation. What is at stake, Brass argues, is not just the form to be taken by economic growth in rural areas of the so-called Third World, but the very fact of development itself.

Selected publications edit

  • Brass, Tom (2022) Transitions: Methods, Theory, Politics, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2022) “Great Replacement and/as the Industrial Reserve: Populism or Marxism?” (Chapter 7), and “Marxism, Peasants, and the Cultural Turn: The Myth of a ‘Nice’ Populism” (Chapter 13), in D. Fasenfest (ed.), Marx Matters, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2021) Marxism Missing, Missing Marxism, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2019) Revolution and Its Alternatives: Other Marxisms, Other Empowerments, Other Priorities, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2017) Labour Markets, Identities, Controversies: Reviews and Essays, 1982-2016, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2014) Class, Culture and the Agrarian Myth, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2011) Labour Regime Change in the Twenty-First Century: Unfreedom, Capitalism and Primitive Accumulation, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2010) "Capitalism, Primitive Accumulation and Unfree Labour", pp. 67–149 in H. Veltmeyer (ed.), Imperialism, Crisis and Class Struggle: The Enduring Verities of Capitalism – Essays Presented to James Petras, Leiden: Brill.
  • Brass, Tom (2007) "Neoliberalism and the Rise of (Peasant) Nations within the Nation: Chiapas in Comparative and Theoretical Perspective", pp. 235–275 in Sarah Washbrook (ed.), Rural Chiapas ten years after the Zapatista Uprising, London and New York: Routledge.
  • Brass, Tom (2007) ‘“A World Which is Not Yet”: Peasants, Civil Society and the State’, pp. 582–664 in Raju Das (ed.), "Peasant, State and Class", a special issue of The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 34, Nos. 3&4.
  • Brass, Tom (2003) Latin American Peasants, London; Frank Cass
  • Brass, Tom (2000) Peasants, Populism, and Postmodernism: The Return of the Agrarian Myth, London; Frank Cass
  • Brass, Tom (2000) ‘Moral Economists, Subalterns, New Social Movements and the (Re-) Emergence of a (Post-) Modernized (Middle) Peasant’, pp. 127–162 in Vinayak Chaturvedi (ed.), Mapping Subaltern Studies and the Postcolonial, London: Verso (article first published in 1991 in The Journal of Peasant Studies).
  • Brass, Tom (1999) Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Unfree Labour. Case Studies and Debates, The Library of Peasant Studies, 16. Frank Cass, London [4]
  • Brass, Tom and Marcel van der Linden (eds) (1997) Free and Unfree Labour. The Debate Continues, International and Comparative Social History, 5., Peter Lang, Bern[4]
  • Brass, Tom (1995) New Farmers' Movements in India, London: Frank Cass

References edit

  1. ^ http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.cst.ebooks.datasheet&id=47513[dead link]
  2. ^ Brass, Tom (2000) Editorial statement, Journal of Peasant Studies 28: 1, 1 — 2
  3. ^ Murray, W. E. (2004) Peasantry in Forsyth, Tim, ed. Encyclopedia of international development, Routledge, London, UK
  4. ^ a b Hagan, Jim and Wells, Andrew (2000). Brassed-Off: The Question of Labour Unfreedom Revisited. International Review of Social History, 45, pp 475–485

February 15, 2024
brass, academic, written, widely, peasant, studies, many, years, university, cambridge, affiliated, lecturer, their, faculty, social, political, sciences, queens, college, cambridge, their, director, studies, social, political, sciences, many, years, then, edi. Tom Brass is an academic who has written widely on peasant studies For many years he was at the University of Cambridge as an affiliated lecturer in their Faculty of Social and Political Sciences and at Queens College Cambridge as their Director of Studies of the Social and Political Sciences For many years he was an and then the editor of the Journal of Peasant Studies 1 2 Murray reports Brass as being dismissive of the cultural turn in peasant studies and the rise of post modern perspectives and his notion that this has been a conservative process and that it has lent support to neoliberalism 3 Contents 1 Biography 2 Work 3 Selected publications 4 ReferencesBiography editBorn on 3 March 1946 Tom Thomas Ferdinand Norman Brass was educated at boarding schools run by the Dominicans Blackfriars Llanarth and Laxton studied social sciences sociology anthropology at the new universities Essex Sussex and then taught these same subjects at the old ones Durham Cambridge He conducted fieldwork research in eastern Peru during the mid 1970s and in Northern India during the 1980s An account by him of his arrest interrogation imprisonment and expulsion from Peru is contained in The Sabotage of Anthropology and the Anthropologist as Saboteur The Journal of the Anthropological Society of Oxford Vol XIII No 2 1982 Reprinted together with a postscript in Labour Markets Identities Controversies pages 181 191 Work editDescribed by James Petras Science and Society Vol 77 No 3 2013 p 434 as one of the United Kingdom s leading Marxist scholars much of what Brass has published deals with two contentious and much debated issues in the area of development studies the link between unfree labour and capitalism and the political impact of the new populist postmodernism His views have influenced others writing about these same issues First he challenged the prevailing orthodoxy that capitalist transformation of the agrarian sector automatically leads to the replacement of unfree workers with free equivalents Where a worker is unable to sell his her own labour power such a person is not free and thus according to political economy not part of a proletariat This is regardless of employment duration whether s he receives a wage is a local or a migrant or has access to land In their conflict with rural labour employers reproduce introduce or reintroduce unfree relations a process of workforce decomposition recomposition Brass calls deproletarianisation Its object is to discipline and cheapen labour power an economic advantage in a global context where agricultural producers have to become increasingly cost conscious to remain competitive And second he has challenged the prevailing view that the cultural turn is a politically progressive contribution to development studies According to Brass the new populist postmodernism recuperated a specifically cultural dimension of peasant ness a discourse associated most powerfully with the Subaltern Studies project formulated initially in the context of Asian historiography and latterly with regard to Latin American history For the new populist postmodernism this analytical re essentialization of peasant did two things It rejected Enlightenment discourse as an inauthentic Eurocentric colonial imposition thereby recovering a hitherto unheard grassroots voice that was authentically nationalist For this reason postmodern interpretations of agrarian mobilisations in Latin America and India nowadays insist that these are new social movements the defining characteristic of which is the non class identity religion ethnicity gender regionalism nationalism deployed by their participants Consequently postmodernists claim such mobilisations are antagonistic to socialism unconnected with fundamental changes in production relations and thus incompatible with revolutionary transformation What is at stake Brass argues is not just the form to be taken by economic growth in rural areas of the so called Third World but the very fact of development itself Selected publications editBrass Tom 2022 Transitions Methods Theory Politics Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2022 Great Replacement and as the Industrial Reserve Populism or Marxism Chapter 7 and Marxism Peasants and the Cultural Turn The Myth of a Nice Populism Chapter 13 in D Fasenfest ed Marx Matters Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2021 Marxism Missing Missing Marxism Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2019 Revolution and Its Alternatives Other Marxisms Other Empowerments Other Priorities Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2017 Labour Markets Identities Controversies Reviews and Essays 1982 2016 Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2014 Class Culture and the Agrarian Myth Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2011 Labour Regime Change in the Twenty First Century Unfreedom Capitalism and Primitive Accumulation Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2010 Capitalism Primitive Accumulation and Unfree Labour pp 67 149 in H Veltmeyer ed Imperialism Crisis and Class Struggle The Enduring Verities of Capitalism Essays Presented to James Petras Leiden Brill Brass Tom 2007 Neoliberalism and the Rise of Peasant Nations within the Nation Chiapas in Comparative and Theoretical Perspective pp 235 275 in Sarah Washbrook ed Rural Chiapas ten years after the Zapatista Uprising London and New York Routledge Brass Tom 2007 A World Which is Not Yet Peasants Civil Society and the State pp 582 664 in Raju Das ed Peasant State and Class a special issue of The Journal of Peasant Studies Vol 34 Nos 3 amp 4 Brass Tom 2003 Latin American Peasants London Frank Cass Brass Tom 2000 Peasants Populism and Postmodernism The Return of the Agrarian Myth London Frank Cass Brass Tom 2000 Moral Economists Subalterns New Social Movements and the Re Emergence of a Post Modernized Middle Peasant pp 127 162 in Vinayak Chaturvedi ed Mapping Subaltern Studies and the Postcolonial London Verso article first published in 1991 in The Journal of Peasant Studies Brass Tom 1999 Towards a Comparative Political Economy of Unfree Labour Case Studies and Debates The Library of Peasant Studies 16 Frank Cass London 4 Brass Tom and Marcel van der Linden eds 1997 Free and Unfree Labour The Debate Continues International and Comparative Social History 5 Peter Lang Bern 4 Brass Tom 1995 New Farmers Movements in India London Frank CassReferences edit http www peterlang com index cfm event cmp cst ebooks datasheet amp id 47513 dead link Brass Tom 2000 Editorial statement Journal of Peasant Studies 28 1 1 2 Murray W E 2004 Peasantry in Forsyth Tim ed Encyclopedia of international development Routledge London UK a b Hagan Jim and Wells Andrew 2000 Brassed Off The Question of Labour Unfreedom Revisited International Review of Social History 45 pp 475 485 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tom Brass amp oldid 1159591699, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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