Böcker i Yale Agrarian Studies (YUP)-serien

Drawing on research among Luo people in western Kenya and abroad, this book examines how Luo assess obligations to intimates and strangers, including the dead and the not-yet-born. It focuses on nonmonetary forms of exchange and entrustment, moving beyond anthropology's traditional understanding of gifts, loans, and reciprocity.

This ambitious work is the definitive account of Russias land reform initiatives from the late 1980s to today. In Russia, a country controlling more land than any other nation, land ownership is central to structures of power, class division, and agricultural production.The aim of Russian land reform for the past thirty yearsto undo the collectivization of the Soviet era and encourage public ownershiphas been largely unsuccessful. To understand this failure, Stephen Wegren examines contemporary land reform policies in terms of legislation, institutional structure, and human behavior. Using extensive survey data, he analyzes household behaviors in regard to land ownership and usage based on socioeconomic status, family size, demographic distribution, and regional differences. Wegrens study is important and timely, as Russian land reform will have a profound effect on Russias ability to compete in an era of globalization.