ABSTRACT

The ‘grain hypothesis', postulated by James Scott, suggests that cereals are ‘political crops’ intrinsic to state formation. Drawing the classical agrarian political economy of maize into dialogue with recent more-than-human political ecology, we explore the grain hypothesis with empirical material from present day Malawi and India. The evolution and ecology of the maize plant, we argue, has made it a strong agent of history, one that has enabled resilience, but also facilitated state and capital entanglement in the global agro-food system. This imperial maize assemblage is set on expansion, but it will continue to meet resistance in coevolved peasant-maize alliances.

摘要

詹姆斯斯科特提出的“谷物假说”表明，谷物是国家形成所固有的“政治作物”。将经典的玉米农业政治经济学与最近超越人类的政治生态学进行对话，我们用来自当今马拉维和印度的经验材料探索谷物假说。我们认为，玉米植物的进化和生态使其成为历史的强大推动者，它增强了复原力，但也促进了国家和资本在全球农业食品系统中的纠缠。这个帝国玉米组合正在扩张，但它将继续在共同进化的农民 - 玉米联盟中遇到阻力。