Peasants on plantations: subaltern strategies of labor and resistance in the Pisco Valley, Peru

In: Latin America otherwise

Abstract

"Superb case study of plantation labor after the abolition of slavery examines the Hacienda San Francisco Solano de Palto in the Pisco Valley. According to the author, peasants involved in cotton production did not submit to the usually assumed forms of domination and exploitation. Rather, they adopted a variety of strategies including long-term labor contracts and direct negotiations with landowners that led to the more widespread use of yanocanaje in this region. An illuminating, carefully constructed study of the plantation records of Hacienda Palto first made available during the agrarian reform campaign of the Velasco government in the early 1970s. Succeeds in placing this case study in the broader context of subaltern studies in an international setting. Strongly recommended"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.