Base Communities and Rural Mobilization in Northern Brazil

Bibliographic Data

ID2590962
AuthorsM Cousineau (0000-0001-8579-883X, Mount Ida College, corresponding author), Madeleine Adriance
Year1994
Volume55
Issue2
Pages163
Publication date1994-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology of Religion (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1069-4404 • E-ISSN: 1759-8818
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3711855
OpenAlexW2051954406
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited4

and activism for agrarian reform. This article presents the results of field research that demonstrates this relationship. The theoretical analysis combines structural and interpretative frameworks, using the synthesis of the theories of NIarx and Weber found in Otto Maduro's work, supplemented by that of Gramsci, in order to p lace the study of religiously influenced change within the broader poktical-economic context. Qualitative data are drawn from forty-nine interviews corducted in eight rural parishes in the states of MaranAdo and Pard. The subjects included thirty-eight lay members of base communities} most of whom are also members of 7ural unions, and eleven pastoral agents four religious sisters, four priests, and three lay church workers. These interviews reveal the knks between the church and agranan activism. The article concludes with a discussiorl of the prospect for the continuaton of such lin1cs. Land is a key issue in Brazil. Conflict over land resulted in the murder of Chico Mendes and in massacres of indigenous peoples. The driving of thousands of peasant farmers from the countryside in the name of modernization has produced an artificial urbanization characterized by soaring rates of unemployment, hungert homelessness, and crime. There is a growing movement to defend the rights of peasants against the land claims of large ranchers and national and foreign companies. A strong force within this movement has come from base communities (comurlidades eclesiais de base, or CEBs) grassroots Catholic groups that study the Bible and discuss its application to people's lives. Although there is an abundance of research on Brazilian CEBs (see Drogus 1992; Hewitt 1991; Mainwaring 1989; Mariz 1992), little has been written about their activism for agrarian reform. This article offers a theoretical framework for examining the links between base communities and rural mobilization, and presents qualitative data gathered in the eastern Amazon region.l

Archaeology · Community mobilization · Geography · Mobilization · Political science · Politics · Social mobilization · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Law · Religion and Society in Latin America · Social and Economic Solidarity · Urban Development and Societal Issues

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub