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" The dispossession of the peasantry: Colonial policies, settler capitalism, and rural change in Palestine, 1918–1948 "
Riyad Mousa
P. Philips
Document Type
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Latin Dissertation
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Language of Document
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English
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Record Number
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53157
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Doc. No
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TL23111
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Call number
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3210057
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Main Entry
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Riyad Mousa
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Title & Author
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The dispossession of the peasantry: Colonial policies, settler capitalism, and rural change in Palestine, 1918–1948\ Riyad Mousa
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College
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The University of Utah
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Date
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2006
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Degree
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Ph.D.
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student score
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2006
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Page No
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307
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Abstract
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This study investigates and analyzes the nature and extent of rural change in Palestine during the Mandate. It inquires into the changes in taxation, debt, land tenure, the techniques of production, and agricultural production. A unifying theme and emphasis, however, are on the more fundamental changes in the social relations of production in the rural areas. A unifying theme and emphasis are done in the context of the interaction among colonial government policy, European settler capitalism, the structure and internal dynamics of the rural areas, and by the further integration of the country into the world capitalist market. This study is an effort to add to the relatively few studies on the social and economic transformation of Palestine. Whereas existing studies have generated some insights, this study shows that the approaches used, especially the "dual economy" one, are inadequate for a fuller understanding of the process of socioeconomic change, especially in the rural areas. This study uses the alternative "structural/historical" approach. In addition, the existing studies have not dealt specifically with the question of peasant differentiation and its accompanying dispossession and pauperization. Some of those studies have either dealt with agriculture and rural areas at a macroeconomic level without addressing the differential impact that socioeconomic change had on the different strata of rural inhabitants or concluded, given the overall growth and development in agriculture, that it benefited everyone. The main finding of this study is that there was a fast and substantial process of differentiation in the rural areas during the Mandate. This differentiation was reflected in increases in the concentration of holdings in Arab ownership, the continued acquisition of land by European settlers, landlessness, and wage labor in agriculture and public works. At the same time, the process of differentiation was accompanied with only limited capitalist development in the Arab rural areas. However, what stands out was the extent of the dispossession of peasants from this process; it involved the majority of peasants. Land dispossession was total for some peasants and partial for others, but in the latter case, most peasants were left with a piece of land insufficient for subsistence in varying degrees. However, in spite of this dispossession, the majority of peasants still owned land by the end of the Mandate.
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Subject
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Social sciences; Colonial policies; Palestine; Peasantry; Rural change; Settler capitalism; Economics; Agricultural economics; Economic history; Labor economics; 0509:Economic history; 0510:Labor economics; 0503:Agricultural economics; 0501:Economics
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Added Entry
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P. Philips
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Added Entry
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The University of Utah
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