Land And Labour In Latin America

This book reflects the development of Latin American labour history across broad geographical, chronological and thematic perspectives, which seek to review and revisit key concepts at different levels. The contributions are closely linked to the most recent trends in Global Labour History and in turn, they enrich those trends. Here, authors from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Spain take a historical and sociological perspective and analyse a series of problems relating to labour relations. The chapters weave together different periods of Latin American colonial and republican history from the vice-royalties of New Spain (now Mexico) and Peru, the Royal Audiencia de Charcas (now Bolivia), Argentina and Uruguay (former vice-royalty of Río de La Plata) and Chile (former Capitanía General).

There has been considerable controversy amongst social and economic historians, anthropologists, economists, sociologists, political scientists and other specialists concerning the nature and structure of Latin American agrarian society. An increasing number of studies have come to challenge the traditionally accepted view that the backwardness of rural Latin America and its resistance to 'modernisation' are due to the persistence of feudal or non-feudal forms of social and economic organisation. Instead attention has shifted to an examination of the social and economic dislocations resulting from attempts to impose capitalist forms of agrarian enterprise on peasant or pre-capitalist societies. This book of essays by an international group of scholars represents a substantial empirical contribution to the ongoing debate. This book will be of interest not only to specialists in the field, but also to anyone wishing to understand the historical processes underlying contemporary Latin America's complex land tenure and rural employment problems.

A comparative study of the agrarian systems of the frontier lands of Argentina and Canada in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this book challenges much received wisdom about the economic 'success' of North America and the 'failure' of Latin America.

The essays in this collection examine agrarian transformation in Latin America and the role in this of peasants, with particular reference to Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Brazil and Central America. Among the issues covered are the impact of globalization and neo-liberal economic policies on peasant economy and rural labour, the historical and contemporary nature of peasant/state relations, debates over Amazonian peasantries, forms taken by local/regional/national peasant ideology/agency, and political disputes over agrarian reform. Land still remains on the agenda of most Latin American peasants, who continue to be politically active, not just in Chiapas (Mexico), nor in ways stipulated by post-modern, post-colonial and post-development theory.

First published in 1982, State Policies and Migration is a study on migration-related government action. This book consists of analyses of various rural reforms and industrial strategies in eight Latin American and Caribbean countries. The emphasis of the studies has been determined by the particular context of the country or region concerned, but in general the studies fall into three categories. The first four chapters are primarily concerned with land reforms, however partial. The next two chapters focus on general industrialisation strategies, considering their impact on urbanisation and the attempts made to achieve population redistribution within the context of the longstanding process of industrialisation. Finally, the third section consists of two very different cases of attempts to alter population distribution in the context of transforming the socio-economic structure. This book will be of interest to students of economics, agriculture, history, public policy and migration studies.

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