Heterogeneity and instability : theoretical–methodological outcomes of three investigations on land and agrarian movements and the state

Abstract

The article presents a theoretical–methodological proposal to research movements and its connections based on the associations they estab-lish. The first investigation focuses on the transformations of the South African Landless People’s Movement, the second on interactions between Brazilian rural movements and the National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform, the third focuses on the transnational ties of the Brazilian National Confederation of Agricultural Workers. We pro-duce an ontological definition of movements and the state as collectives whose existence is defined by continuous assemblages of heterogene-ous and unstable elements. Those collectives are not enclosed analytical units, but contingent and contextual. Methodologically, we suggest the observation of the processes in the long term to grasp the continu-ous constructions of those collectives, even before they reach public expression. Controversies are analytical categories for understanding which elements allow things to take the course we analyze.