Peasants Against Globalization

Marc Edelman is Professor of Anthropology at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of City University of New York. He is the author of The Logic of the Latifundio: The Large Estates of Northwestern Costa Rica Since the Late Nineteenth Century (Stanford, 1992).

• Abbreviations Introduction: debt crisis, social crisis, paradigm crisis 1. The rise and demise of a tropical welfare state 2. 'Iron First in a Kid Glove': peasants confront the free market 3. Organizing in 'The Cradle of Maize' 4. 'In Jail, We'll Eat Cement': finale to a peasant strike 5. Movements evolve, organizations are born and die Conclusion: peasant movements of the late twentieth century Appendix Notes Index.

"This beautifully written book is of great theoretical importance for social movement theory and peasant studies, as well as for understanding the impact of neoliberalism in Latin America and the role of grassroots organizations in development. . . . Edelman brings to bear the results of two decades of fieldwork in various Costa Rican settings."—Judith Alder Hellman, York University "Edelman's work is an imporant corrective in an age when 'privatization' and the magic of the 'free market' are increasingly touted as the keys to global social prosperity. His combination of macroeconomic analysis and ethnography is a welcome addition to the exploding literature on globalization; his research at the grassroots helps bring 'world-system' discussions down from the level of grand statistical abstraction to real-world human beings, while his treatment of broad-scale economic trends helps place his ethnographic detail in its proper historical context. This book will be a valuable aid in courses exploring global processes from both sociological and anthropological perspectives."—Journal of Peasant Studies "This is far from a traditional work of cultural anthropology. It reflects the best of the discipline's recent soul-searching revisionism. Sandwiched between an insightful review of the literature on peasants and a touch of self-reflection on the ethics of being an active participant observer is a detailed account of several local and national peasant organizations and their struggles with the globalization process in Costa Rica from about 1985 to 1995."—Latin American Politics and Society "Peasants Against Globalization provides an insightful case study of the impact of neoliberal politics in one country as well as an admirably thoughtful account of the campesinos' struggles to establish their basic rights."—