Territoriality and Sociality in Latin American Social Movements: An Approach to the Study of MST in Brasil and MOCASE in Argentina

Abstract

Des-territorialization has been one of the dimensions for the analyses of globalization processes in current societies, mainly from the identity-cultural dimension of the phenomenon. A multiple case study of two Latin American social movements ―particularly those acting from rural context― shows the articulations between the counter-hegemony processes of appropriation of territoriality developed as part of the collective action. These links, as well as the diverse mediations mediating them, demonstrate the complexity of the new senses of territoriality created by these social movements, which overcome the property and the spatial dimension and are directly connected with processes of social change. We conclude that there is, in the both movements analyzed, a mutual and complex mediation between appropriation of territorialities and emergence of new sociabilities, in an articulation mediated by dimensions such as communication and rituals.