Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania [Paperback]

Steven M. Feierman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1990

Scholars who study peasant society now realize that peasants are not passive, but quite capable of acting in their own interests.  But, do coherent political ideas emerge within peasant society or do peasants act in a world where elites define political issues?  Peasant Intellectuals is based on ethnographic research begun in 1966 and includes interviews with hundreds of people from all levels of Tanzanian society.  Steven Feierman provides the history of the struggles to define the most basic issues of public political discourse in the Shambaa-speaking region of Tanzania.  Feierman also shows that peasant society contains a rich body of alternative sources of political language from which future debates will be shaped.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This brilliant book shatters our intellectual complacency.  By transforming the notion of ‘peasant intellectual’ from an oxymoron into a powerful organizing principle, Feierman renders obsolete the usual ways we approach peasant, politics, and culture.”—Steve J. Stern, University of Wisconsin–Madison

About the Author

Steven Feierman is Professor of History at the University of Florida, Gainesville. He is the author of The Shambaa Kingdom and has written extensively on African medicine and healing practices.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (November 15, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299125246
• ISBN-13: 978-0299125240
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #422,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > History > Africa > Tanzania
  • #91 in Books > History > Africa > East Africa

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