This book offers a historically grounded and multi-scalar analysis of agrarian change in Nepal's far-eastern Tarai. It shows how this region has since the 1700s evolved from a forested frontier home to relatively autonomous Adivasi (indigenous) cultivators, to a feudal economy grounded in landlord-tenant relations, which has persisted alongside a rapidly expanding industrial and commercial sector. The book explores the changing land ownership patterns and distribution of surplus, the flow of labour between agriculture and industry, and more complex interactions with global capitalism. The book thus offers unique insights into both the reproduction and transformations of class, ethnic and labour relations in Nepal during a period of rapid political transformation.

‘The result of intense and committed fieldwork into the transitions and transformations of agricultural and rural capitalism, of gendered work, of production and exchange, of feudal rents and relations and of local and global capitalist markets, this rich evocation of the flatland society of a mountain state is certain to inspire comparative research, debate and reflections far and wide in agrarian studies.’

Barbara Harriss-White - University of Oxford

‘A bold and brilliant work by Fraser Sugden. Based on the ethnography of modes of production and compelling analysis of the complex and multilinear process of agrarian change in the Nepal Tarai, the book offers a fresh look at pre-capitalist formations in the age of globalisation in one of the world’s peripheral economies. This book, for its unconventional approach, is a rare contribution to the study of Nepal’s political economy.’

Suresh Dhakal - Tribhuvan University