Anthropology and the peasant class: the pertinence of the persistent. Anthropological reflections on peasant internationalism

Abstract

The present article develops an initial discussion on the persistence of the peasant class in anthropology as an awkward object, which since it has become asubject for the discipline has  obliged anthropologists to re-examine their disciplinary identity and re-think their theoretical  bases. We start from the idea that both the emergence and the decline of peasant studies in the discipline have corresponded with localizable social, intellectual and political contexts. For this  reason we present the current struggle of peasant internationalism, represented by the international movement Vía Campesina, for food sovereignty and international recognition of the  rights of peasant men and women. These struggles are considered to constitute a politically novel space which has the potential to generate political opportunities for peasant claims in the face of  neoliberal despoliation. Finally, we reflect on how these struggles again present the peasant class as an awkward object for anthropology and demand anthropological discussion of the subject.