Forty Years of the Landless Workers Movement: Landless Perspectives

Forty Years of the Landless Workers Movement: Landless Perspectives presents ethnographic insights into Latin America’s largest social movement as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST), with over 1.5 million members, has been fighting for agrarian reform since 1984. In its 40-year struggle, the movement has secured land for over 350,000 families and become a worldwide beacon for progressive politics. Its enduring presence is a remarkable feat; while other movements have come and gone, the MST continues to be a steadfast force in the pursuit of social justice and environmental sustainability. How has the MST managed to endure in a country dominated by agribusiness and characterized by hostile politics? The rationale of this collection is to answer such questions from an ethnographic standpoint, connecting personal stories to theorizations of land and struggle. The detailed accounts of this book’s contributions sit in dialogue with the longitudinal commitment of the contributors, many of whom have been working with the movement over a period of decades. Such a commitment allows this book to speak to a 40-year timeframe, creating an approach that points to broader conclusions and possible futures. With contributors from Brazil, Europe, and North America, this book connects lived experiences with wider political questions pertaining to global mass mobilization. Offering a fresh perspective on one of the world’s most iconic social movements, this volume celebrates the durability of the MST and speaks to the productive tensions that characterize its lived, vital, and daily struggle for agrarian reform. The material will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, sociology, political science, Latin American studies and beyond. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Contributors Introduction: Relations and the Social in Movement 1 Peasant Pathways: The MST and Conquered Territories as Future 2 Two Enemies to Fight: An Ethnographic Journey with MST Pentecostals in Pernambuco 3 Critique of the MST: Perfecting the Anarchist Promise of a Socialist Movement 4 The Agroecological Rift 5 Education in Movement with the Movement: The Evolution of the Pedagogy of the MST Over 40 Years 6 Becoming Sem Terra: Rites of Passage and Protest 7 Art in Movement: Challenging the Latifúndio of Cinema, Museums, and Educational Institutions 8 From Demonization to Canonization: The Landless Workers Movement’s Shifting Relationship to the City Index