Malaysia’s PM Anwar mourns passing of influential anthropologist James C. Scott
- The prime minister gave high praise to the professor, who did the fieldwork for his seminal 1985 book ‘Weapons of the Weak’ in Kedah
Anwar described Scott’s works as “exceptional” and expressed his deep sadness at the professor’s passing in a post to his official social media accounts, noting how much of an impact the academic’s research had on him.
Born in New Jersey in 1936, Scott taught political science at Yale University, where he was appointed a sterling professor – the university’s highest rank, reserved for those considered to be the best in their field – in 2001. He passed away on Friday at the age of 87.
Scott’s primary research centred on peasants in Southeast Asia and their strategies of resistance to various forms of domination, as exemplified by the titles of his books: Weapons of the Weak, Domination and the Arts of Resistance, The Art of Not Being Governed and Against the Grain.
“His seminal 1985 work, ‘Weapons of the Weak,’ based on two years of meticulous field research in a Kedah village, has always resonated with me, recalling my activism for the rural folk in Kedah in the 1970s,” Anwar wrote in his post, published late on Monday.
