Sowing the Seeds of Resistance: Agrarian Reform, Political Violence, and Popular Mobilization in the Aguán Valley of Honduras
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Date
2014-09-29
Authors
Wolford, Heather
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Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
The agrarian conflict in the Aguán Valley of Honduras is among the most violent and distressing in contemporary Latin America. It has roots in both local and global political economic processes, including structural adjustment and the proliferation of neoliberal economic policies in the region. In particular, the Ley de Modernización y Desarrollo del Sector Agrícola, or Law of Modernization and Development of the Agricultural Sector, drastically altered the landscape in rural Honduras, both literally and figuratively. An analysis of this policy reveals much about the nature of the current conflict, as well as that of the campesino (small farmer) movements that have organized to regain their land. This thesis seeks to shed light on the interconnectedness of economic policy, political violence, and popular resistance in the Aguán Valley and to examine the ways in which campesino movements frame their struggles and assert themselves as legitimate actors in the policy realm.
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Keywords
Agrarian reform, Latin America, Neoliberalism, Political economy, Political violence, Social movements