Slideshow on my sabbatical research with the landless workers movement in Brazil.

1. Working With the Landless
Workers Movement in Brazil
A Report on My Sabbatical
Fieldwork Project, 2006-2007
___________________
Claire Cesareo

2. My Field Site
 I have been conducting research in the southern
part of the state of Bahia, Brazil, for the past 15
years (see the map on the next slide).
 The area in which I work has traditionally
produced cacao, the fruit from which chocolate
is made.
 Within the past 15-20 years the market for cacao
has dropped, so unemployment is very high and
people are struggling to survive.

3. Southern Bahia, Brazil

4. Cacao

5. Producing Cacao in Bahia
 In Bahia, they harvest cacao and ferment
and dry the seeds.
 Most of this is exported to other countries
that produce chocolate such as the U.S.,
Switzerland, and Belgium.
 Today the harvesting of cacao has
dropped down to a fraction of what it was
in the past.

6. Harvesting
Cacao

7. Cacao Seeds –
The Final
Product

8. Fieldwork 2003

9. The Landless Movement
 Since the year 2000 or so, an agrarian reform
movement has emerged among the unemployed
and underemployed of the region called the
Landless Movement.
 According to the Brazilian constitution, no one
has a right to simply own farm land if they do not
use it to produce.
 There is a federal government process for
people to petition to obtain ownership of
unproductive land.

10.  In order to do this, people organize and
set up encampments along the side of the
major roads in the region.
 They live in these camps, in small
communities, until the government buys
the farms for them.
 In some cases, this process can take as
long as five years.

11.  Following are pictures of some of the
encampments I worked with in 2003.

22. Here’s me with
some of the people
I got to know that
summer.

26. Settlement Luanda
 In the next group of slides are pictures of
settlement where the people gained land
and were starting to build their new lives.

38. Protest March
 In 2003, all of the various landless groups
met for a weekend seminar to discuss
agrarian reform.
 Following are pictures of a march that was
held in the largest city of area – Itabuna –
demanding that the government speed up
the process of land appropriation and
distribution, as well as the awarding of
promised credits.

52. Fieldwork 2006-2007

53.  The next set of slides deals with the
research I did during my sabbatical year in
2006-2007.

54. The MTR Encampment
 I worked primarily with one group called
the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais,
or the the Movement of Rural Workers
(MTR).
 When I first arrived they had been
encamped on the side of the road for
close to five years.

56. Life in the Encampment
 In these encampments, there is no
running water or sanitation system.
 People need to get and carry water from a
nearby stream and gather firewood for
cooking.

60. The Dangers of Living on the
Side of the Road
 In the next slide, you can see how close to
the road they actually are located. People
travel along this road going 50 or 60 mph,
making it quite dangerous, especially for
the many kids that live in these
encampments.
 In addition, the landless are often insulted
by people driving by who call them
“bums,” “scumbags,” and “lazy good-for-
nothings.”

63.  Because they are living under a plastic
covering only, the rain often soaks in and
turns the dirt floor of their shacks into mud.

69. Solidarity
 Among the families living in this
encampment, there was a tremendous
amount of solidarity. They shared food
and laughter, as well as a common sense
of purpose.

78. Pressuring the Government
 After a few months of my arrival in Brazil,
a few of us drove 7 hours to the
government agrarian reform offices to put
pressure on them.
 While there, we received the news that the
farm would be paid for the next day and
they would be able to move onto it within
the next few weeks.

83. Moving Day
 The next group of slides show the day
people packed up all their belongings,
dismantled the encampment, and moved
onto their own farm.
 This happened 5 years, 3 months, and 1
day after the encampment was
established.

96. Fazenda Rochedo
 The next set of pictures show the farm of
close to 1000 acres that would be divided
among the 30 families of the encampment.

101.  You can see by the next few slides, that
the farm had not been taken care of for
years.
 All of the existing housing was falling
apart. Eventually these will be renovated,
but for the time being people had to try to
make them livable and build new shacks.

107. Often, my children were with me
doing fieldwork.

108. Victory March
 The families held a march in the nearest
city to publicize their victory.

111. Building the Future
 The next slides show the families as they
worked to build their futures together.

135. The Anthropologist as Godparent
 Many times anthropologists are asked to
be godparents for the children of their
informants.
 I became the godmother of beautiful twin
girls.

138. A New Encampment
 At the edge of Fazenda Rochedo, a new
encampment of 150 families was built.
 They will need to win at least four farms to
accommodate all of these families.

147. My Godchildren

156. My Shack at the Encampment
 The next couple of slides are pictures of
the shack that I built to stay in while doing
fieldwork at the encampment.
 I did not live here fulltime, but would often
spend the weekends here.

172. The Future
 The next few years for these families will
not be easy. However, at least they have
the hope that they will no longer be
dependent on the little wage labor that still
exists in the region and can create a better
future based upon small, sustainable,
farming.

173. Some Questions You Might Want
to Consider
 What can an anthropologist do when working
with people who need a lot of assistance? What
kind of help can they offer?
 What kinds of methods do you think I used while
in the field?
 What would be the kinds of things you would be
interested in knowing about this group of
people? What things should I have investigated
and what questions should I have asked?