CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2021
| Author | Arantes, Marilia Heloisa Fraga |
|---|---|
| Title | Inside The World's Barn: Land Concentration, Agrobusiness And The New Brazilian Middle Class |
| Summary | The highly concentrated land structure in Brazil is a central feature of this country’s society, economy, and politics. In this research, I explore the discursive aspect of the Brazilian land question during the years of Lula Government (2003-2010). I argue that the academic consensus of a ‘moderation’ and class alliance between land reform movements and the agrobusiness have overlooked what was indeed the incorporation of Lula’s Government into the agrobusiness hegemonic project. I employ Post Structuralist Discourse Theory to investigate how, through a chain of equivalence, the ‘new middle class’ identity was associated with the agrobusiness, assuring stability. I combine this ideological reading of hegemony with neo-Gramscian works to consider the political, economic context around these discourses. With the methodology of discourse analysis, I find that the approximation between middle class and agrobusiness happened in three main areas: first by linking exports, consumption, and employment, second by articulating the idea of a ‘record’ concerning both agrobusiness and the middle class, third by stating a view of ‘exceptionalism’, in which the middle class and agrobusiness prosper despite ongoing economic hardships and crisis. In this context, Brazil was claimed to become ‘The World’s Barn’ and ‘The country of the middle class’. This case study contributes to the literature on critical theory in Latin America, while understanding the middle class and the precarity of identity and discursive projects can shed new light to ongoing political events in Brazil. |
| Supervisor | Michael Merlingen |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2021/arantes_marilia.pdf |
Visit the CEU Library.
© 2007-2021, Central European University