Peasant Intellectuals: Anthropology and History in Tanzania

Scholars who study peasant society now realize that peasants are not passive, but quite capable of acting in their own interests. Debate has continued, though, on whether coherent political ideas emerge within peasant society, or whether peasants act in a world where political issues are defined by elites. Based on ethnographic research begun in 1966 that includes interviews with hundreds of people from all levels of Tanzanian society, Peasant Intellectuals aims to alter the perspective from which anthropologists, historians, and political scientists study both cultural systems and rural politics.