Understanding rural resistance: contemporary mobilization in the Brazilian countryside

Abstract

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 introductory paper, we synthesize the literature on agrarian resistance in Brazil and situate recent struggles in Brazil within the Latin American context more broadly. We highlight seven key characteristics of contemporary Latin American resistance, which include: 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. We argue that by analyzing rural mobilization in Brazil, this collection offers a range of insights relevant to rural contention globally. Each contribution in this collection increases our understanding of alternative agricultural production, largescale development projects, education, race and political parties in the contemporary agrarian context.

A framework for understanding land control transfer in agricultural commodity frontiers

“…To mitigate the risks imparted by visibility, acts of overt resistance are often combined with networking tactics (e.g., connections with NGOs, alliances between regional organizations, etc. ), which not only provide financial, political, and legal support (Bush, 2011; McDaniel, 2002; Pahnke et al, 2015) but also, critically, serve to hinder the repression of resistance through the bearing of witness (Joshi, 2020; van der Heiden, 2021). Alternatively, people may employ stealthier tactics of opposition, which afford greater protection through the maintenance of anonymity (Borras & Franco, 2013; Hall et al, 2015).…”

Taxes and tithes: The organizational foundations of bolsonarismo

“…Throughout the 2000s, Brazil was hailed as a laboratory for new forms of local and transnational governance through innovations like participatory budgeting, popular councils ( conselhos ), and international mobilizations inspired by spaces like the World Social Forum (see Gohn, 2015 for a review). A large literature showed that indigenous peoples (Bicalho, 2010), informal workers (Rosaldo, 2018), women (Costa, 2013), black movements (Paschel, 2016a), quilombolas (Leite, 2008), peasants (Pahnke et al, 2015; Tarlau, 2019), queer movements (Facchini, 2009), and people at the intersection of these groups conquered state power and political subjecthood in the post-democratization period (Paschel, 2016b). This body of scholarship carefully documented the improbable gains of these movements.…”

Collective Action and Political Change: Public and Semipublic Strategies of Brazilian Rural Movements (1990s–2017)

“…These debates are echoed in peasant studies. Pahnke, Tarlau, andWolford (2015: 1074) consider that the emphasis of political process theories on rationality "complicates the explanation of intra-movement processes." These concepts shed light on less visible aspects of collective action.…”