Riding a Tiger: Dilemmas of Integration and Decentralization in Indonesia (Thela Latin America Series) [Paperback]

Gemma Van Der Haar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

This book explores a much-neglected field in the contemporary history of Chiapas. Land reform is generally believed to have played only a minor role in this state and in debates on the Zapatista uprising of 1994, the lack of land reform typically features as one of the root causes. This book tells a different story. Drawing on detailed archival work and ethnography for one of Chiapas' least studied indigenous regions, it shows that land redistribution has been considerable in scale and had profound consequences. By promoting the formation of ejido-communities at the expense of private estates from the 1930s onwards, land reform dramatically reduced the amount of land in non-indigenous hands. Land invasions in the wake of the Zapatista uprising completed this process. Gaining Ground also traces one of the principal routes of state formation in eastern Chiapas. It argues that land reform drew the indigenous population closer to the state, but also laid the foundations for their resistance to state control and the assertion of local autonomy.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gemma van der Haar received her Ph.D. from Wageningen University where she was trained as a development sociologist. Her field experience in Chiapas dates back to 1986 and has involved lengthy stays in indigenous communities. She has recently co-edited Current Land Policy in Latin America: regulating land tenure under neo-liberalism. She currently works at the Centre for International Conflict Analysis and Management at Nijmegen University. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Thela Thesis (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9051706162
• ISBN-13: 978-9051706161
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,215,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.