Jan Breman

Jan Breman (1936) majored in the Social Sciences at the University of Amsterdam and specialized in South and Southeast Asian Studies.

In 1962 he became a staff member, later reader and professor at Erasmus University (the former Netherlands Economic School) in Rotterdam, where he held a chair in the sociology of development. His transfer in 1987 to Amsterdam University, where he teaches comparative sociology, coincided with the establishment of the Centre for Asian Studies Amsterdam, where he became scientific director. CASA is a post-graduate institute set up as a joint venture between the University of Amsterdam and the Free University. From 1992 - 1998 he was vice-dean of the ASSR.

Breman conducted anthropological fieldwork in India (South Gujarat) and Indonesia (West Java) focusing on rural and urban labor relations. He also conducted historical research on the same themes and areas of interest. Some of his publications: Of Patronage and Exploitation (1974), Control of Land and Labour in Colonial Java (1983), Of Peasants, Migrants and Workers (1985), Taming the Coolie Beast (1989), Rural trnasformations in Colonial Asia (together with S. Mundle, 1991) Beyond Patronage and Exploitation (1993); Wage Hunters and Gatherers in the Landscape of Labour in India (1994) and Footloose Labour. Working in India's Informal Economy (1996).

Recent publications include: The World View of Industrial Labor in India,(Sage Press, 2000); Down and Out, Labouring under Colonial Capitalism (Oxford University Press, New Dehli, 2000)

In addition, he contributed to several edited volumes and published articles in various international journals on his research work along historical lines in Asia.