Rallying Around the Subaltern
- 1 October 1988
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of Peasant Studies
- Vol. 16 (1) , 110-120
- https://doi.org/10.1080/03066158808438384
Abstract
Ranajit Guha (ed.), Subaltern Studies. Writings on South Asian History and Society, Vols.I‐IV. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Vol.I, 1982. Pp.x + 241. Rs.120; Vol.II, 1983. Pp.xi + 358. Rs.135; Vol.III, 1984. Pp.xi + 327. Rs.160; Vol.IV, 1985. Pp.xi + 383. Rs.160. In this article the first four volumes of the ‘Subaltern Studies’ project, which relates to South Asian history, are reviewed. The high quality of many of the individual essays is not in doubt; but the precise nature of what constitutes the ‘subaltern’ project as an historiographical revision ‐ with regard to source material, theory, or empirical evidence ‐ is unclear. Indeed, the project represents something of a retreat from theory, with the theoretical underpinning of these volumes highly eclectic. Two particular weaknesses are emphasised: a failure, firstly, to address adequately the nature of the state and, secondly, to take substantive account of peasant differentiation.Keywords
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