Countering Inequality: Brazil's Movimento Sem‐Terra

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Data from a national survey of formerly landless peasants residing in federal land-reform settlements in Brazil (Pesquisa Nacional de Educac ßão na Reforma Agr aria -PNERA) confirm that the Landless Rural Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem-Terra-MST) has been far more successful than other settlement movements in assuring a better quality of life for its members. This superior performance is attributed to an organizational structure that demands and assures membership involvement, and a commitment to participatory education in an environment that fosters and supports MST's goals and objectives. MST's members have higher self-perceived social status than members of non-MST movements, have better residential environments and more material possessions, and experience an education that emphasizes the movement's principles of social justice, radical democracy, and humanist and socialist values. Keywords: Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem-Terra (MST), rural education, Brazil, Pesquisa Nacional de Educac ßão na Reforma Agr aria (PNERA), agrarian reform.As Brazil entered the final quarter of the twentieth century, a massive landless rural population, poor and uneducated, confronted it. To be sure, urbanward migration was running apace as the most enterprising headed to the cities, increasing the number and size of urban squatter settlements (favelas), but much of the peasantry remained locked to a countryside where half of the usable land was in the hands of less than 1 percent of the population. However, building on the successes of those establishing favelas in the cities, and amidst rising social consciousness stimulated by aggressive community organization, a number of settlement movements emerged that were committed to securing land for the peasantry, improving living conditions and housing, and ensuring at least a basic education for all. By late 2004, the National Research on Education in Agrarian Reform (Pesquisa Nacional de Educac ßão na Reforma Agr aria-PNERA), which was conducted by the Ministry of Education in a joint effort with the Ministry of Agrarian Development through the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Instituto Nacional de Colonizac ßão e Reforma Agr aria-INCRA) and the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research (Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais-INEP), identified 5,595 rural settlements planted by these movements and legalized since 1985, with over 2.5 million residents-close to 525,000

Does Learning, Development and Work Life Balance Affects Happiness: A Moderated Mediatory Model

“…There are many sources to ignite this positive feeling, and one important source is through doing what is essential to the society. Knowing community,'' collective mind conditioning'' which separates representatives of one society's motives and actions from those of other societies is therefore important if we are to understand the different causes of happiness (Valente & Berry, 2015). Happiness, also known as positive psychology, is not only an important factor in one's personal life, but also plays an essential role in the professional lives, and hence, is an important element for business performance and productivity.…”

“…The core theme of emerging theories of social development was the distinction between individual and collective attitude, and hence between different sources of happiness (Valente & Berry, 2015).…”

Performance of Students Admitted through Affirmative Action in Brazil

“…After the Brazilian Supreme Court deemed affirmative action to be legal and constitutional in 2012, much of the debate on the merits of affirmative action shifted to focus on its effectiveness and whether it is appropriate as a means to promote equitable access to higher education or merely a palliative measure. Historically, disadvantaged groups (i.e., indigenous, low income, landless settlers, and nonwhites) have been subjected to many forms of discrimination and prejudice, including lack of access to higher education (Osorio 2008;Soares et al 2005;Heringer 2015;Valente 2013Valente , 2016aValente , 2016bValente and Berry 2015). Most people agree that students who study in public primary and secondary schools-particularly nonwhites-are harmed in the admission process of public universities because of the low quality of their prior education (Birdsall and Sabot 1996;Guimarães 2003;Telles 2004;Arias, Yamada, and Tejerina 2004;Schwartzman 2004;Soares et al 2005).…”

The Economic Geography of Human Capital in Twentieth-Century Latin America

“…expenditure on schooling). While we were able to collect most of these variables in quantitative terms we have had to rely on the available literature regarding its quality (Reimers 2006;Frankema 2009;Bertola, O'Campo 2013;Valente, Berry 2015). In the figures and tables in the appendix, we also present performance according to education levels: primary (elementary, grades 1-8) leading to the improvement of literacy levels and basic knowledge; secondary (high school, grades 9-12); and tertiary (university levels).…”