English, Globalization, and Identity Construction of Landless Workers

Abstract

Access to power in globalized societies can be gained through the control over discourse practices made possible by the use of a powerful tool like the English language. This is true for Brazil's Landless Workers Movement, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), which demands, among other things, agrarian reform in Brazil. This paper examines the identity conflicts stemming from MST's use of English in the articulation of local and global resistance against cultural, political, social, and hegemonic forces. Examining the identity conflicts in the MST is crucial because globalization has redefined its adversaries from local Brazilian large landowners to transnational agricultural companies. As a result, the movement was forced to forge alliances with social groups and movements worldwide. By using English as a tool for international communication, the landless may jeopardize their own identity since this language is usually related to their opponents. Such a contradiction implies an ongoing conflict between nationalism and globalization, the local and the global. The new technologies of communication have also played an important role in that process, and a brief discussion of that subject is included in the paper. Texts for analysis are from the movement's official website and electronic bulletins sent by the MST and the Friends of the MST, as well as texts from Revista Sem Terra , a bimonthly magazine, and Jornal Sem Terra , a monthly newspaper.