The Agrarian Question in History

(4 Credits)

This course explores the emergence of what is called the “Agrarian Question” as that question was related to the emergence of modernity (as a tendentially global economic, cultural, social, and political formation). The course begins with formative analyses of the problem of value (where and how is value produced?) and continues into the question of land, peasants, domestic and global revolution, modernization and development, race & labor, gender & reproduction, migration and ecological disaster/pandemics. The aim is to familiarize students with some basic theoretical/philosophical approaches and selected historical texts, as these articulate the agrarian question in modern terms. The course is intended to assist students in analyzing the agrarian question through a broad theoretical/historical/global perspective.