Agrarian Reform in Chile: socialist dilemmas, peasant struggles and military spoliation (1967-1978)

• Grant number: 17/06753-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): September 25, 2017
• Effective date (End): May 24, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of America
• Principal Investigator: Jorge Luís da Silva Grespan
• Grantee: Joana Salem Vasconcelos
• Supervisor: Heidi Tinsman
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 16/13432-4 - "The pencil is heavier than the hoe": agrarian reform in Chile and peasant pedagogies for economic transformation (1955-1973), BP.DR

Abstract

Within this project we intend to increase the theoretical-methodological consistency of the PhD research (supported by FAPESP) on the history of the political struggles and popular expectations about the agrarian reform in Chile (1967-1973) and the counter-reform policy led by Pinochet's government (1973-1978). Three main objectives guide us: (1) restore the strategic debate of the Popular Unity on agrarian reform in the framework of the "Chilean road" to socialism; (2) understand the interactions between the political vanguard expectations on the new economic forms of agriculture and the concrete experiences of peasants and Mapuche communities in their historical sociability; (3) analyze the key strategies of the agrarian counter-reform policy led by Pinochet's government. During this PhD internship at University of California Irvine, we will try to untangle the relationship between Marxists, peasants and Mapuche in the struggle against landlordism, expanding our repertoire of Oral History methods and incorporating the gender studies approach through the supervision of Professor Heidi Tinsman. In this area, we will also seek to strengthen our studies on "agrarian memories" in order to improve our social and historical listening abilities, for the next season of work in Chile, especially in relation to the traumatic situations of the victims of the military government's despotic action against the territories conquered during the agrarian reform.