Yale Celebrates the Influential Career of Professor James C. Scott with Screening and Q&A

On Thursday, March 28, the Program in Agrarian Studies presented a special screening of “In A Field All His Own: The Life and Career of James C. Scott”, a documentary produced by Todd Holmes ’13 Ph.D., historian with the Oral History Center at UC Berkeley.

“I had the privilege of meeting and working with Jim Scott before ever reading Jim Scott, a unique vantage point that allowed me to develop a deep appreciation for the brilliant scholar behind the books—his limitless curiosity, his wit and humor, and the welcoming nature of his intellect,” said Holmes.

“I wanted to capture these qualities in telling his story. His books will be read for generations to come; it was my hope that this film could serve as a companion and allow students and scholars to get to know James C. Scott and the inspiration behind his work.”

“Drawing from nearly thirty hours of oral history interviews with Scott and affiliated scholars at Yale and UC Berkeley, the film traces the intellectual journey of the award-winning social scientist from his childhood in New Jersey through each of the ground-breaking works he produced throughout his accomplished career.

Over the last fifty years, few scholars have achieved such prominence within the American academy as James C. Scott. The Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Yale University, with appointments in Anthropology and the School of the Environment, he is regarded by many as one of the most influential thinkers of our time.

From the strategic rhythms of peasant life to notions of resistance and the functioning of the modern state, his work continually shaped and reshaped research agendas and discourses in the academy. By his retirement in 2022, Scott stood as one the most widely read social scientists in the world—an influence and distinction that placed him, as the film title suggests, ‘in a field all his own.’”

The event, which took place in Luce Hall, included a Q&A with Jim Scott as well as remarks by the co-directors of the Yale MacMillan Center’s Program in Agrarian Studies, Professors Kalyanakrishnan Sivaramakrishnan and Elisabeth Wood.

The documentary is also publicly available via YouTube.