CAS100 Lecture 3 MIKE DAVIS — “India: The Modernization of Poverty

What myth does Davis challenge at the beginning of the reading?

The myth that British colonialism brought progress and civilization to South Asia.

According to Davis, what was the true outcome of British “modernization”?

• It produced systemic poverty and famine rather than development.

How many people died during the late 1800s South Asian famines described by Davis?

• Between 19 and 29 million.

Why does Davis say these famines were not “natural disasters”?

Because they were created by British economic policies and exploitation

What did the British prioritize in land use—food crops or export commodities?

• Export commodities such as cotton.

How did British land laws affect peasants?

• They lost traditional rights and were pushed into debt and dependence.

What does Davis mean by the “modernization of poverty”?

• The transformation of traditional poverty into a structured, economic condition of deprivation under capitalism.

What were the British aiming to maximize through land reforms?

Revenue and global trade profits

What traditional relationship was destroyed by the British legal system?

• The patrimonial obligations between landowners and peasants.

What economic practices does Davis call “parasitic”?

• Usury (moneylending) and rackrenting.

What crops were peasants pressured to grow?

• Cotton, opium, and other cash crops.

Why did peasants have “little choice” in what they could grow?

• Because taxes and debt forced them to grow export crops for cash.

What does Davis reveal about British taxation?

It extracted wealth from the colony while providing little relief to the poor.

What were British state revenues used for instead of local welfare?

• For imperial administration and military expenses.

What does Davis mean by “enclosures”?

• The privatization of community-managed resources like land and water.

What happened to South Asia’s commons (Parks, forests) under British rule?

• They were enclosed, sold, or monopolized by elites.

What were the social effects of losing access to the commons?

• Increased poverty, migration, and dependence on landlords.

What does Davis suggest about British “privatization efforts”?

• They were brutal, displacing millions of rural people.

What does Davis say about the British railway system?

It served extraction of goods rather than local development.

How did railroads worsen famine conditions?

• By facilitating export of food during shortages instead of distributing it locally.

What did water represent in Davis’s argument?

• The lifeblood of agriculture, livestock, and human survival.

What kind of “crime scene” does Davis describe?

• The destruction of South Asia’s economic foundations through colonial greed.

What global economic force harmed Indian peasants most?

• Integration into global markets without protection.

What was the effect of British “modernization” on agricultural innovation?

• It stagnated because exploitation was more profitable than development.

How does Davis portray the British Raj overall?

As both brutal and economically irrational.