This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Hammond, J. L. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Land Occupations, Violence, and the Politics of Agrarian Reform in Brazil

Hunter College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York

Landless farmworkers in Brazil typically occupy land that is legally eligible for expropriation, but the state normally does not expropriate until a land occupation forces the hand of authorities. Landowners and local authorities in the Brazilian countryside frequently respond to occupations with violent repression. Their action reflects the hybrid character of the Brazilian state, modern and rational in cities and at the federal level but, in many rural areas, still clientelistic and marked by nonlegitimate violence. Land occupiers, landowners, and authorities jointly enact a repertoire of collective action that corresponds to the backward character of the state in those areas. The action of the land occupiers, however, is legitimated by the claim of civil disobedience while the efforts to repress them cannot lay claim to legitimacy on that basis.

Key Words: Landless Workers' Movement (MST) • Violence • Brazil • Agrarian reform • Contentious repertoires

Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 36, No. 4, 156-177 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0094582X09338589


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?