New Book Chronicle

The study of contemporary ‘peasantries’ saw a decline around the turn of the millennium. An academic focus on capitalist farming models over peasant societies led to debates about the very validity of the term ‘peasant’, with some regarding it as anachronistic (Kearney 1996), while others argued for the emergence of a ‘new peasantry’ that would become increasingly important (VanDer Ploeg 2018). Most recently, archaeologists Quirós Castillo and TejerizoGarcía (2021: 378) have argued that peasantries “appear to be a crucial social agent in many political and economic processes”. Indeed, archaeologies of the peasantry are enjoying a revival, particularly among Spanish researchers. This NBC reviews a few of the many recent volumes that feature new approaches to the archaeology and history of peasants, aiming to shift perceptions of the peasantries as passive, reactive societies, and resituating them as communities with agency and social currency.