For Land and Liberty : Black Struggles in Rural Brazil

For Land and Liberty addresses black rural communities' claims to land in Brazil. By analyzing the national quilombo (African-descent rural communities) movement to protect land rights, traditional practices, resources, and food sovereignty, Bowen offers readers new perspectives on rural movements, mobilizations, and resistance in Brazil.

For Land and Liberty is a comparative study of the history and contemporary circumstances concerning Brazil''s quilombos (African-descent rural communities) and their inhabitants, the quilombolas. The book examines the disposition of quilombola claims to land as a site of contestation over citizenship and its meanings for Afro-descendants, as well as their connections to the broader fight against racism. Contrary to the narrative that quilombola identity is a recent invention, constructed for the purpose of qualifying for opportunities made possible by the 1988 law, Bowen argues that quilombola claims are historically and locally rooted. She examines the ways in which state actors have colluded with large landholders and modernization schemes to appropriate quilombo land, and further argues that, even when granted land titles, quilombolas face challenges issuing from systemic racism. By analyzing the quilombo movement and local initiatives, this book offers fresh perspectives on the resurgence of movements, mobilization, and resistance in Brazil.