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Re-peasantization, Resistance and Subordination: The Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform in Brazil

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Labour Questions in the Global South

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Abstract

The process of re-peasantization in Brazil occurs primarily through the peasant struggle for land and agrarian reform. Adopting a geographic method and using territorialization as a central axis of study, this article analyzes the history of peasant formation, particularly focusing on the formation of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement (MST), the peasant movement that has most contributed to the process of recreating the peasantry through land occupations. The process of re-peasantization occurring over the last 30 years is supported by data showing that more than a million families have been settled through agrarian reform. However, these fractional territorial gains have not eliminated the subordination of peasants by capitalized land rent. Using data from the most recent Agricultural Census, we highlight the situation of dependence to which Brazilian peasants are submitted. The hegemony of agribusiness has provoked a reflux in the peasant struggle for land and agrarian reform, which currently finds itself stagnant. The greatest challenge for peasant movements is the creation of a development model for their territories which would enable them to recuperate the process of re-peasantization.

Originally published in Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 2 No. 3 Copyright 2013 © Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South (CARES), New Delhi. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holders and the publishers, SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Translated by Elizabeth Alice Clements

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. São Paulo State University (UNESP), São Paulo, Brazil

    Bernardo Mançano Fernandes

  2. UNESCO Chair in Territorial Development and Education for the Countryside, São Paulo, Brazil

    Bernardo Mançano Fernandes

Authors
  1. Bernardo Mançano Fernandes
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Economic Studies and Planning School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India

    Praveen Jha

  2. Sam Moyo African Institute for Agrarian Studies (SMAIAS), Harare, Zimbabwe

    Walter Chambati

  3. Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda

    Lyn Ossome

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Fernandes, B.M. (2021). Re-peasantization, Resistance and Subordination: The Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform in Brazil. In: Jha, P., Chambati, W., Ossome, L. (eds) Labour Questions in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4635-2_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4635-2_14

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