Tania Murray LiLand's End: Capitalist Relations on an Indigenous Frontier

I love the details d'inscription of the book. It allows me to visualize vividly different events that led to the occuring changes in the highlander community located in central Sulawesi, Indonesia.

An exceptional look at development issues written in a very accessible way. The introduction is a little dry because of the theories discussed; but for people with a background or interest in economics and development, it is insightful and proposes a framework for understanding the rest of the book. The rest of the chapters are very engaging, relatable, and understandable without the introduction.This book represents 20 years of data, plus the prior historical context for these people, and fairly represents conflicts individuals face on the path to development. Li's results show that development is neither the uplifting, empowering force some believe in, nor the force of annihilation brought in by big corporations that others believe in. It can start on an internal level with consequences that are neither equally empowering or equally destructive for all people. Li also shows many of the shortcomings of development agencies which are often detached from the groups they provide aid to, and her study suggests some ways that development projects could be more effective.

This is what ethnography should look like: eminently readable yet theoretically grounded, nuanced yet incisive, and both theoretically and politically relevant. Her prose is beautiful and she weaves theory seamlessly into narratives, giving something for both academic and non-academic readers to chew on. Her findings about rural farmers at the margins, for whom capitalism is not brought about with a decisive land grab or "development" scheme, but rather slowly and almost accidentally brought on by their own actions, is both surprising and informative. She challenges both the right's simplistic narrative that the market will save the poor - she demonstrates the reverse - and the left's romantic and idealized narratives about the "alternative development" paths for smallholder farmers. The book is one I'd recommend highly to anyone interested in rural development or food justice, as well as, of course, any student of the anthropology of capitalism, agrarian studies, or political ecology.

The book grapples with a world wide issue, of economic inequality, loss of land, and standard of living, on a local, personal scale. While the book may begin slowly, as you read further you become intrigued in the lives of the highlanders, and the nature of their check mate. It is a must for anyone trying to understand the complexities of capitalist relations, as well as those searching for an honest account of the issues surrounding development agendas.

For me, the book's most important contribution is how it tracked the impact of agricultural modernisation among the Laujes, whose switch from their traditional forest dwelling ways into growing commodity trees (cacao, kapok) led into open land being enclosed in ownership claims that excluded others, which soon created polarising effects. It is often said that modernisation creates winners and losers, but the new insight the book adds is how the old set of relationships that allowed survival and sustainable livelihoods in the forest was destroyed by the new rules of competition and profit created by the growing of new tree crops that are commodities not consumed locally but sold in global markets. Hence, the effort of many Laujes to join the 'march of progress' ended up instead with them joining the ranks of people unable to sustain themselves and excluded from land (hence the title Land's End').I also enjoyed how Tania Li discussed conjunctural analysis in plain English, the best and most accessible I've read so far. The book thus offers a lot too about methodology and the interpretation of what's going on.

I was disappointed by the lack of real context and the external view of the Lauje people of Sulawesi who are the subject of the book but the analysis of the situation in the last few chapters does throw light on issues of concern - but does not offer solutions.