Challenging Social Inequality

"Challenging Social Inequality is the most comprehensive study to date of the agrarian question in Brazil and of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers, the social movement that has challenged land concentration, social inequality, and poverty in Brazil since the mid-1980s. The contributors, most of whom are Brazilian, examine the movement's history, organization, and strategies, and its interaction with the state, political parties, and other social movements. In addition, Miguel Carter addresses complex and controversial issues in the introduction and conclusion, further expanding our understanding of contemporary Brazil." - Leslie Bethell, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford

"This collection offers as definitive a history of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers as is now possible. The contributors examine the movement's founding and rapid expansion in every state; its conflicts with landowners and political authorities; its methods, grassroots practices, and achievements in seeking to impart the arts of husbandry, equality, and democracy to the rural third of the nation, which is largely landless, hungry, and bereft of the means of citizenship. Challenging Social Inequality is a complete guide to a social movement of enormous importance, one comparable to the civil rights movement in the United States particularly with respect to its capacity to mobilize, raise consciousness, and bring about change." - Ralph Della Cava, Institute of Latin American Studies, Columbia University

"Carter’s 2015 volume is the most comprehensive and extensive treatment of the MST to date, bringing together prominent scholars that have been working with and conducting research on the MST over the past three decades." - Rebecca Tarlau, European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies

"The interdisciplinary nature of the collection—featuring geographers, anthropologists, and sociologists, as well as political scientists—offers readers many well-researched, diverse theoretical perspectives on the largest social movement active in Latin America. The various chapters from Brazilian scholars will acquaint readers with first-rate social science scholarship that Carter himself translated from the original Portuguese. This volume is the most complete book on what can be considered Latin America’s most innovative social movement." - Anthony Pahnke, Perspectives on Politics

"[W]ell written, clearly organized, and based on significant and in-depth research conducted at different times and across politically and ecologically diverse places. Chapters are linked by a clear, shared focus on social inequality and a similar yet geographically and temporally grounded manifestation and analysis of problems and struggles.” - Cathy A. Rakowski, Rural Sociology

"Challenging Social Inequality shows disciplinary and scholarly breadth. . . . This volume—launched early in the [Worker's Party] decline—contributes greatly to post-2018 political debates and MST history writ large." - Travis Knoll, The Latin Americanist

"Many books have been written on Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST), but [this book] deserves a special place for its extensive coverage of the manifold aspects of the MST." - Cristóbal Kay, Latin American Research Review