Journal of Peasant Studies

Journal of Peasant Studies
Title	Journal of Peasant Studies
Discipline	Agrarian studies; Rural sociology
Abbreviation	J. Peasant Stud.
Publisher	Routledge
Country	United Kingdom
Frequency	Bimonthly
History	1973–present
Impact	6.2 (example)

Contents

Journal of Peasant Studies is a peer-reviewed academic periodical focusing on agrarian change, rural politics, and peasant movements. Founded in the early 1970s, the journal has published research on land struggles, social movements, development policy, and food systems, engaging with debates around class, colonialism, and neoliberalism. It has become a central venue for scholars and activists associated with La Via Campesina, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Food and Agriculture Organization, and major universities including University of Warwick, University of Sussex, and University of Manchester.

History

The journal was established in 1973 by scholars and activists influenced by postwar debates involving Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Frantz Fanon, Eric Hobsbawm, and the legacy of the Green Revolution. Early editors drew on networks that included researchers at Rosario University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and University of California, Berkeley, responding to agrarian crises visible in the Green Revolution in India, Mexican land reform, and uprisings such as the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the journal engaged with analyses linked to the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Structural Adjustment Programmes, and the global protests exemplified by the Battle of Seattle. In the 2000s it shifted to foreground issues connected to La Via Campesina, the Zapatista uprising, and debates around neoliberalism, while engaging scholars associated with University of Michigan, Columbia University, London School of Economics, and Universidade de São Paulo.

The journal publishes empirical and theoretical work on agrarian transformation, rural social movements, land tenure, and food sovereignty, drawing contributions from scholars at Harvard University, Stanford University, Princeton University, Yale University, and University of Oxford. It features comparative studies across regions including South Asia, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe, and thematic work on subjects connected to the World Trade Organization, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Common Agricultural Policy, and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Regular topics include analyses of peasant organizations such as Via Campesina affiliates, case studies on agrarian reform in countries like India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, and policy critiques related to institutions like the United Nations, European Commission, and Inter-American Development Bank.

Published by Routledge on a bimonthly schedule, the journal uses a double-blind peer review process managed by an editorial board drawn from institutions such as University of California, Los Angeles, University of British Columbia, Australian National University, Sciences Po, and University of Cape Town. Past editors and contributors have included scholars affiliated with Cornell University, University of Edinburgh, McGill University, National Autonomous University of Mexico, and Peking University. The editorial remit emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches linking political economy, history, anthropology, and geography, engaging conversations that intersect with events like the Maoist insurgency in Nepal, the Bolivian Water War, and the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) in Brazil.

The journal is indexed in major abstracting services including Social Sciences Citation Index, Scopus, JSTOR, Web of Science, and EBSCOhost, and appears in disciplinary databases frequented by researchers at University of Toronto, University of Sydney, Seoul National University, and Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Its inclusion in citation indexes has connected its content to policy audiences at organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization and International Labour Organization, and to research projects funded by bodies like the European Research Council and national research councils in Canada, United Kingdom, and Australia.

Scholars and activists have cited the journal in debates on land reform stemming from events such as the Green Revolution, the Zapatista uprising, and the Arab Spring, while critics and supporters alike reference its role in shaping discourse around agrarian populism linked to figures such as Evo Morales, Hugo Chávez, and movements like the Bolivarian Revolution. Its articles have informed policy discussions at fora including the World Social Forum, the UN Food Systems Summit, and regional meetings of La Via Campesina, and have been debated in outlets associated with The Guardian, New Left Review, Monthly Review, and academic symposia at American Anthropological Association and International Rural Sociology Association conferences. Metrics from citation databases and awards from scholarly societies attest to its influence among researchers at Princeton University, University of California, Davis, University of Wisconsin–Madison, and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The journal has published influential pieces on land commodification, agrarian class formation, and food sovereignty featuring contributors linked to Saskia Sassen, Eric Wolf, James C. Scott, Teodor Shanin, and Gunnar Myrdal. Special issues have focused on topics such as the global food crisis, peasant mobilization, and agroecology, engaging debates tied to the World Trade Organization ministerial conferences, the 2007–2008 world food price crisis, and the Paris Agreement. Landmark articles have been used in syllabi at University of California, Berkeley, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and National University of Singapore, and reprinted or summarized in policy briefs by the International Institute for Environment and Development and Oxfam.

Category:Agricultural journals