Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia

by Clifford Geertz

Book Overview

Agricultural Involution: The Processes of Ecological Change in Indonesia is one of the most famous of the early works of Clifford Geertz. It principal thesis is that many centuries of intensifying wet-rice cultivation in Indonesia had produced greater social complexity without significant technological or political change, a process Geertz terms "involution".

Written for a US-funded project on the local developments and following the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520004590
• ISBN13: 9780520004597
• Release Date: December 1969
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Farming As A Cultural System

Though his qualitative studies of culture are more famous, "AI" is probably Clifford Geertz's most influential empirical work. It presents 2 main concepts: first, agricultural involution, a significant form of intensification but which may not bring actual development; and second, the divide between irrigated and swidden (slash & burn) farming. He develops these ideas with clarity and authority, enough to have inspired many comments and some revision, but the book's core remains permanently valuable. Both concepts have applications beyond Indonesia and wet-rice regions, and his historical approach provides essential time depth. Clearly Geertz's 1950s sojourn in the Indies was among the most fruitful fieldwork stints ever, producing a raft of classic books and essays. "The Religion of Java" is merely one among these, while F. Bray, "The Rice Economies" is very useful for context.