Ground Work

This chapter examines the longue durée reproduction of the material agrarian structure and the violently and radically changing political regimes. It operates at two levels. First, on the large scale of time and space, the chapter shows how the political contexts over time have supported and undermined various land claims at different junctures — from the first Dutch land acquisition in the 1860s in North Sumatra through Japanese occupation, social revolution, “guided democracy,” the “New Order,” and reformasi. It also demonstrates how the patterns of claims and counterclaims, acquisitions and evictions, occupations and retreats, have emerged. Second, the chapter provides a detailed analysis of a single, emblematic, enduring conflict. The local case shows how legalization, in connection with the other nine-tenths of the law, allowed plantation agriculture to hold off smallholder challenges for decades. Some claims in this land struggle challenged the status quo, but proved to be ephemeral and short-lived. Other claims, however, reproduced effectively. They hardened and institutionalized, propped up by statutory law, regulation, force, and other practices.

Inclusão, educação superior e educação do/no campo: o PRONERA no contexto do capital

This article aims to analyze the National Education Program on Agrarian Reform - PRONERA - as a higher education program that aims at inclusion at this level of education, but that finds resistance in the characteristics of a system that does not allow everyone access to education. This program is identified as State policy that has been maintained for 21 years, through clashes, struggles and demands, in opposition to the logic of plastered rural education, and proposes an emancipating, decolonizing education. The research is of bibliographic and documentary nature and, to subsidize the analyzes made, we resort to authors who reflect on the land struggle and agrarian reform, Rural Education, Alternation Pedagogy, Higher Education, in order to dialogue with Mészaros and Demir on the structural crisis of capital and its implications for rural education, with a focus on PRONERA. It is concluded that the inclusion policies made possible the development of PRONERA, but they maintain the neoliberal logic as structuring of this Program that, having as mentor an ultra-neoliberal government, has its principles shaken by the lack of resources and the prioritization of a privatized and meritocratic.

Attachment to place and territoriality in Nandigram land struggle, India

The Nandigram peasant struggle against land acquisition for special economic zones (SEZs) in West Bengal, India, in 2006–2007, highlights the importance of attachment to place and territorialization in resistance. Analyzing the Nandigram land struggle, I underscore the importance of place-based attachment. I argue that land is a social relation. The land acquisition was a threat of breakage in that place-based relation, which led to negative perceptions of industrialization. This threat pronounced the existing attachment to place, which led to the spatialization of the muktanchal or liberated zone. I conceptualize the muktanchal as an act of territoriality, where militant peasant identities emerged that facilitated their claim-making. This paper uses content analysis of existing primary data from heterogeneous sources, to illuminate how the peasants strategically created the muktanchal to contest top-down attempts by the state to create a SEZ enclave.

GEOGRAFIA DOS ASSENTAMENTOS RURAIS E A REFORMA AGRÁRIA NO MUNICÍPIO DE FRANCISCO SÁ - NORTE DE MINAS

A Geografia é a ciência que busca a compreensão dos fenômenos socioespaciais. Os elementos condicionantes do espaço são as relações sociedade/natureza que produzem arranjos materiais e imateriais. As discussões sobre assentamentos rurais e movimentos de luta pela terra constituem uma diversidade de interpretações, nessa trajetória, apresenta-se a busca por novos paradigmas, novas linguagens e novas propostas ao modelo tradicional da reforma agrária. Os assentamentos rurais na região Norte Mineira são espaços de agricultura familiar e territórios produtivos. As particularidades de cada assentamento se traduzem em áreas mais desenvolvidas, e outras menos desenvolvidas, essa análise reflete na diversidade regional, que sejam nos aspectos socioeconômicos e físicos geográficos. Nessa discussão, o presente estudo procura analisar a reforma agrária e a formação dos assentamentos rurais no munícipio de Francisco Sá-MG. O procedimento metodológico baseou-se em estudos bibliográficos para fundamentação da parte teórica, pesquisa direta através de trabalho de campo e entrevista. Portanto, os assentamentos rurais no município de Francisco Sá constituem-se em territórios, compostos por diferentes modalidades de acesso à terra e reprodução social diversa. Palavras-chave: Território. Reforma agrária. Assentamentos Rurais. GEOGRAPHY OF RURAL SETTLEMENTS AND AGRARIAN REFORM IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF FRANCISCO SÁ – NORTH OF MINAS GERAIS ABSTRACT The Geography is the science devoted to the understanding of socio-spatial phenomena. The space conditioning elements are the society/nature relationships that produce material and immaterial arrangements. The discussions regarding rural settlements and land struggle movements represent a diversity of interpretations, in this trajectory; the search for new paradigms, new languages ​​and new proposals is presented to the traditional model of agrarian reform. Rural settlements in the northern region of Minas Gerais are areas marked by family agriculture and productive territories. The particularities of each settlement translate into more developed areas, and others less developed, this analysis reflects in the regional diversity of socioeconomic and physical geographic aspects. In this perspective, the present study aims to analyze the agrarian reform and the formation of rural settlements in Francisco Sá, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The methodological procedure was based on bibliographical studies to substantiate the theoretical part, field research and interviews. Therefore, the rural settlements in the municipality of Francisco Sá are constituted in territories, composed by different modalities of land access and diverse social reproduction. Keywords: Territory. Agrarian reform. Rural Settlements. GEOGRAFÍA DE LOS ASENTAMIENTOS RURALES Y LA REFORMA AGRARIA EN EL MUNICIPIO DE FRANCISCO SÁ - NORTE DE MINAS RESUMEN La Geografía es la ciencia que busca la comprensión de los fenómenos socioespaciales. Los elementos condicionantes del espacio son las relaciones sociedad / naturaleza que producen arreglos materiales e inmateriales. Las discusiones sobre asentamientos rurales y movimientos de lucha representan una diversidad de interpretaciones, en esa trayectoria, se presentan la búsqueda de nuevos paradigmas, nuevos lenguajes y nuevas propuestas al modelo tradicional de la reforma agraria. Los asentamientos rurales en la región Norte Minera, son espacios de agricultura familiar y territorios productivos. Las particularidades de cada asentamiento traducen en áreas más desarrolladas, y otras menos desarrolladas, ese análisis refleja en la diversidad regional, que sean en los aspectos socioeconómicos y físicos geográficos. En esta discusión, el presente estudio busca analizar la reforma agraria y la formación de los asentamientos rurales en el municipio de Francisco Sá-MG. El procedimiento metodológico se basó en estudios bibliográficos para fundamentación de la parte teórica, investigación directa a través de trabajo de campo y entrevista. Por lo tanto, los asentamientos rurales en el municipio de Francisco Sá se constituyen en territorios, compuesto por diferentes modalidades de acceso a tierra y reproducción social diversa. Palabras clave: Territorio. Reforma agraria. Asentamientos Rurales.

“The decision you make today will affect many generations to come”: Environmental assessment law and Indigenous resistance to urbanization

In the early 2000s, the rural and predominantly Native Hawaiian Moloka‘i community faced another episode in a decades-long struggle against the commodification of sacred lands in the context of settler colonialism. In this paper I analyze a decisive moment in the land struggle: a public hearing over a legally mandated environmental impact assessment. Environmental assessments promise to improve environmental outcomes via public participation, but have often fallen short as a means to assert the values and interests of Indigenous communities. This paper adds insight into why this happens and shows how one community overcame the political limitations of the environmental assessments process. Through an analysis of public records and interview data, I show how corporate landowners engaged in extensive community consultation to pursue their commercial interests, in anticipation of the environmental assessments and in hopes of securing land-use approvals. However, in response, community members articulated Indigenous values and agency within (and beyond) a legal setting and environmental review process partially at odds with such values. I argue that defenders of a culturally sacred place, Lā‘au Point, both deployed and resisted Hawai‘i’s land-use and environmental laws. They leveraged the formal legal criteria of the environmental review process, yet they affirmed cultural meanings and relationships of moral responsibility to land by deploying multiple literacies—legal literacies as well as land and culture-based literacies—to protect a cherished place. Overall, this case study reveals the diversity, complexity, and resilience of Native Hawaiian resistance to urbanization and settler colonialism.