Famine in a land of plenty: Plight of a rice-growing community in Java, 1883-84

摘要

This paper is an effort to examine the dynamics of a major famine in the private domains of Indramayu and Kandanghaur in 1883-84, which was reportedly a result of drought, but a closer look at the evidence, including a unique survey of peasant families engulfed in the famine, reveals a rather complex situation. The local peasantry confined to a narrow subsistence economy found its food supply being seriously undermined by the landlords' efforts to extract more and more rice for sale at a time when Java was being closely drawn into the world market.