"Analyzes the development of the movement for agrarian reform in Brazil, and attempts to explain the major moments of change in its growth trajectory, from the late 1970s to 2006"--Provided by publisher.
This on-the-ground account of a celebrated Brazilian agrarian movement highlights the contingent nature of social movements and political identities more broadly.
The book analyzes the origins and development of the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement, one of the largest and most innovative current social movements--Provided by publisher.
Contradictions between impressive levels of economic growth and the persistence of poverty and inequality are perhaps nowhere more evident than in rural Brazil. While Brazil might appear to be an example of the potential harmony between large-scale, export-oriented agribusiness and small-scale family farming, high levels of rural resistance contradict this vision. In this volume, individual contributions from a variety of researchers across the field highlight seven key characteristics of contemporary Brazilian resistance that have broader resonance in the region and beyond: the growth of international networks, the changing structure of state–society collaboration, the deepening of territorial claims, the importance of autonomy, the development of alternative economies, continued opposition to dispossession, and struggles over the meaning of nature. By analyzing rural mobilization in Brazil, this collection offers a range of insights relevant to rural contention globally. Each contribution in this title increases our understanding of alternative agricultural production, large-scale development projects, education, race and political parties in the contemporary agrarian context. This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Peasant Studies.
Agrarian social movements are at a crossroads. Although these movements have made significant strides in advancing the concept of food sovereignty, the reality is that many of their members remain engaged in environmentally degrading forms of agriculture, and the lands they farm are increasingly unproductive. Whether movement farmers will be able to remain living on the land, and dedicated to alternative agricultural practices, is a pressing question. The Political Ecology of Education examines the opportunities for and constraints on advancing food sovereignty in the 17 de Abril settlement, a community born out of a massacre of landless Brazilian workers in 1996. Based on immersive fieldwork over the course of seven years, David Meek makes the provocative argument that critical forms of food systems education are integral to agrarian social movements' survival. While the need for critical approaches is especially immediate in the Amazon, Meek's study speaks to the burgeoning attention to food systems education at various educational levels worldwide, from primary to postgraduate programs. His book calls us to rethink the politics of the possible within these pedagogies.
In Challenging Social Inequality, an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars and development workers explores the causes, consequences, and contemporary reactions to Brazil's sharply unequal agrarian structure. They focus on the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST)—Latin America's largest and most prominent social movement—and its ongoing efforts to confront historic patterns of inequality in the Brazilian countryside. Several essays provide essential historical background for understanding the MST. They examine Brazil's agrarian structure, state policies, and the formation of rural civil-society organizations. Other essays build on a frequently made distinction between the struggle for land and the struggle on the land. The first refers to the mobilization undertaken by landless peasants to demand government land redistribution. The struggle on the land takes place after the establishment of an official agricultural settlement. The main efforts during this phase are geared toward developing productive and meaningful rural communities. The last essays in the collection are wide-ranging analyses of the MST, which delve into the movement's relations with recent governments and its impact on other Brazilian social movements. In the conclusion, Miguel Carter appraises the future of agrarian reform in Brazil. Contributors. José Batista Gonçalves Afonso, Sonia Maria P..P. Bergamasco, Sue Branford, Elena Calvo-González, Miguel Carter, Horacio Martins de Carvalho, Guilherme Costa Delgado, Bernardo Mançano Fernandes, Leonilde Sérvolo de Medeiros, George Mészáros, Luiz Antonio Norder, Gabriel Ondetti, Ivo Poletto, Marcelo Carvalho Rosa, Lygia Maria Sigaud, Emmanuel Wambergue, Wendy Wolford
In Occupying Schools, Occupying Land, Rebecca Tarlau looks at the Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement over the past thirty-five years to illustrate how social movements can use state services, such as schools, to support their social change goals. Through a detailed ethnographic and long-term examination of the MST's educational struggle, Tarlau shows how educational institutions can in turn help movements build capacity and social influence. This bookprovides an analysis of how activists convinced government officials to implement these educational practices and how these initiatives strengthened the movement.
The Politics of Agrarian Reform in Brazil examines the interrelationships among peasant mobilization, agrarian reform and cooperativism in contemporary Brazil. Specifically, it addresses the challenges facing peasant movements in their pursuit of political and economic democracy. The book takes as a point of reference the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the most dynamic force for progressive social change in Latin America today. Robles and Veltmeyer argue that the MST has effectively practiced the politics of land occupation and the politics of agricultural cooperativism to consolidate the food sovereignty model of agrarian reform. However, the rapid expansion of the corporate-led agribusiness model, which is supported by Brazil's political elite, has undermined the MST's efforts. The authors argue that despite intense peasant mobilization, agrarian reform remains an unfulfilled political promise in Brazil.
Social movements are a key feature of the political and social landscape of Latin America. Ronaldo Munck explores their full range, emanating from different sections of Latin American society and motivated by many different concerns, including worker organizations, peasant and land reform movements, Indigenous groups, women's movements, and environmental groups. Although the mosaic of interlocking and connected issues and rights presents a complex map of social concerns and potentially a fragmented political force, these movements are likely to be at the centre of any future progressive politics in Latin America. As a result, they require careful understanding and a more nuanced theoretical approach. Drawing on insights from Latin American approaches to social movement theory, the book offers a distinctive contribution to social movement literature. The text incorporates detailed case studies and a methodological appendix for students wishing to develop their own research agendas in the field.
All across Latin America, rural peoples are organizing in support of broadly distinct but interrelated issues. Food sovereignty, agrarian reform, indigenous and women's rights, sustainable development, fair trade, and immigration issues are the focus of a large number of social movements found in countries such as Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Peru. The contributors to Rural Social Movements in Latin America include academic researchers as well as social movement leaders who are seeking to effect change in their countries and communities. As a group they are at the forefront of some of the most critical environmental, social, and political issues of the day. This volume highlights the central role these movements play in opposition to the neoliberal model of development and offers fresh insights on emerging alternatives at the local, national, and hemispheric level. It also illustrates and analyzes the similarities--notably the struggle for sustainable livelihoods--as well as the difference among these various peasant, indigenous, and rural women's movements. A co-publication with the University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies