8-9 June, 1994
Leiden, The Netherlands
XIIIth KOTA Conference
RELATIONS BETWEEN SMALL AND LARGE-SCALE AGRICULTURE

By Rene Barendse

After a protracted interval, this year the aim is to organize another
conference on behalf of the KOntakt Group Tropical Asia (KOTA). In its sixteen
year tradition, the KOTA Conference has played a by no means insignificant
role in Dutch research relating to Asia. One function of the conference has
been to act as a forum for the exchanging of ideas between researchers active
in various research fields pertinent to Asia (especially South and Southeast
Asia), while another function has been to provide a platform for the
presentation of the new ideas and data of (in particular young) researchers
"fresh from the field, or from the archives".
The KOTA Conference is organized around a broad central theme which is
important to researchers active in various fields of research, both qua region
and qua discipline. Earlier themes have included "survival strategies",
"ritual and hierarchy", "violence and development", and "focus on the region".
The central theme for this year is "Relations between small and large-scale
agriculture". Contributions based on research data as well as those with a
more theoretical bias are equally welcome.
One of the aims of the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS), which
was founded in Leiden in January 1993, is to stimulate and co-ordinate
research on Asia in the Netherlands. It is within this framework that IIAS
will organize this year's KOTA Conference, in Leiden on 8th and 9th June.
Participants in the KOTA Conference should submit a paper (in Dutch, English,
or French, 10-13 pages). In general the focus is on new research, which, as
a rule, is not yet really suitable for definitive presentation. These papers
will be sent to participants before the conference, and will be reviewed by
a discussant in the plenary session. There is absolutely no plan that the
papers should be presented personally. Should the nature of the papers lead
to it, possibilities for publication will be looked into.
All this means that within a relatively short time the organizers must have
received a (definite) confirmation of whether you are planning to send a paper
to the KOTA Conference, if so you must submit it before 28th March. Please
send in the enclosed form, on it mentioning your name, address, telephone
(work/home), the (provisional) title of your contribution, as well as a
(short) abstract of the nature of your contribution (5-6 lines).
The theme of this year's KOTA Conference is the relations between small-scale
farming (peasant agriculture), whether this is aimed at national or
international markets. In the latter case one might consider businesses
organized on an industrial basis producing commercial crops (plantations), but
it also covers enterprises run by agrarian entrepreneurs, using agricultural
labourers which produce for the internal market. Although at first glance it
might appear rather specialized, the proposed theme has wide implications for
political and economic relations, both in South and Southeast Asia. According
to the individual's own point of view, research with an economic,
agricultural, historical, political and family sociological, anthropological,
or geographical perspective is carried out in this field.
It calls to mind a wide variety of themes, e.g. as guidelines: What has been
the influence of the introduction of the plantation system on the structure
of the family and the division of labour within that family, in comparison
with that on a small-scale farm? Has there been a change in the attitude of
agricultural labourers and sharecroppers towards work and social hierarchy as
opposed to that of independent farmers? What has been the effect of the rise
of large-scale agriculture on the structure of rural credit and what is the
attitude of backers with relation to small-scale agriculture? Where and how
are agricultural labourers recruited for the large-scale agricultural
enterprises and what influence does this have on the agriculture in the areas
from which they come and that in the areas in which they settle? What has been
the influence of the rise of a class of large-scale farmers on the local
political relations? What is the influence of a lobby of planters and/or
agrarian industrialists on government policy with reference to laws relating
to the use of land? Is landownership polarized or is it equalized by the
implantation of agro-industries within a local economy? What is the effect of
plantations on the division of communal rights and communal land, more
generally on the arrangement of regional space and on the pattern of crop
cultivation?
Although in practice most KOTA Conferences are centred on the presentation of
the results of empirical research, the submitting of more theoretical
reflections, be they economic, or comparative sociological-historical theory,
is expressly requested. With reference to the last mentioned, for the sake of
the consistency of the papers, the eighteenth century has been set as the
chronological borderline. Comparison with (Latin) America, Africa, or
(Eastern) Europe are welcome, but the papers should concentrate on Asia.

For more information please contact:
IIAS secretariat