Alex Ungprateeb Flynn – författare

Pathways to Utopia explores how Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST), against all odds, has endured for forty years as one of the world's largest social movements - while transforming the way we understand the temporality of activism. Taking his cue from MST members and their generational struggle for land and justice, anthropologist Alex Ungprateeb Flynn reveals how the movement's longevity stems not only from its strong organization and collective vision but also from the productive tensions between established utopian ideals and emerging counter-utopian practices. Perceived by some as a shortcoming, this friction has proven to be a generative force, sparking creative gestures that reimagine social relations and ensuring the MST's adaptability in an ever-changing political landscape.Flynn chronicles the everyday lives of families navigating an extraordinary political reality over a fifteen-year period. At the heart of Pathways to Utopia is the realization that activism is not a momentary act but an ongoing, relational practice - one where even the smallest community actions reverberate, reshaping the very structures through which people seek to change the world.Evocatively written and balancing careful ethnography with key theoretical interventions, the book illuminates the dreams and sacrifices that characterize a life lived as struggle. Unfolding across multiple points of time, Pathways to Utopia tells a story of hope and resilience - one that promises a lasting influence on our twenty-first-century political imagination.

Pathways to Utopia explores how Brazil's Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST), against all odds, has endured for forty years as one of the world's largest social movements - while transforming the way we understand the temporality of activism. Taking his cue from MST members and their generational struggle for land and justice, anthropologist Alex Ungprateeb Flynn reveals how the movement's longevity stems not only from its strong organization and collective vision but also from the productive tensions between established utopian ideals and emerging counter-utopian practices. Perceived by some as a shortcoming, this friction has proven to be a generative force, sparking creative gestures that reimagine social relations and ensuring the MST's adaptability in an ever-changing political landscape.Flynn chronicles the everyday lives of families navigating an extraordinary political reality over a fifteen-year period. At the heart of Pathways to Utopia is the realization that activism is not a momentary act but an ongoing, relational practice - one where even the smallest community actions reverberate, reshaping the very structures through which people seek to change the world.Evocatively written and balancing careful ethnography with key theoretical interventions, the book illuminates the dreams and sacrifices that characterize a life lived as struggle. Unfolding across multiple points of time, Pathways to Utopia tells a story of hope and resilience - one that promises a lasting influence on our twenty-first-century political imagination.

Forty Years of the Landless Workers Movement: Landless Perspectives presents ethnographic insights into Latin America’s largest social movement as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST), with over 1.5 million members, has been fighting for agrarian reform since 1984. In its 40-year struggle, the movement has secured land for over 350,000 families and become a worldwide beacon for progressive politics. Its enduring presence is a remarkable feat; while other movements have come and gone, the MST continues to be a steadfast force in the pursuit of social justice and environmental sustainability. How has the MST managed to endure in a country dominated by agribusiness and characterized by hostile politics? The rationale of this collection is to answer such questions from an ethnographic standpoint, connecting personal stories to theorizations of land and struggle. The detailed accounts of this book’s contributions sit in dialogue with the longitudinal commitment of the contributors, many of whom have been working with the movement over a period of decades. Such a commitment allows this book to speak to a 40-year timeframe, creating an approach that points to broader conclusions and possible futures. With contributors from Brazil, Europe, and North America, this book connects lived experiences with wider political questions pertaining to global mass mobilization. Offering a fresh perspective on one of the world’s most iconic social movements, this volume celebrates the durability of the MST and speaks to the productive tensions that characterize its lived, vital, and daily struggle for agrarian reform. The material will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, sociology, political science, Latin American studies and beyond.

Forty Years of the Landless Workers Movement: Landless Perspectives presents ethnographic insights into Latin America’s largest social movement as it celebrates its 40th anniversary. The Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra - MST), with over 1.5 million members, has been fighting for agrarian reform since 1984. In its 40-year struggle, the movement has secured land for over 350,000 families and become a worldwide beacon for progressive politics. Its enduring presence is a remarkable feat; while other movements have come and gone, the MST continues to be a steadfast force in the pursuit of social justice and environmental sustainability. How has the MST managed to endure in a country dominated by agribusiness and characterized by hostile politics? The rationale of this collection is to answer such questions from an ethnographic standpoint, connecting personal stories to theorizations of land and struggle. The detailed accounts of this book’s contributions sit in dialogue with the longitudinal commitment of the contributors, many of whom have been working with the movement over a period of decades. Such a commitment allows this book to speak to a 40-year timeframe, creating an approach that points to broader conclusions and possible futures. With contributors from Brazil, Europe, and North America, this book connects lived experiences with wider political questions pertaining to global mass mobilization. Offering a fresh perspective on one of the world’s most iconic social movements, this volume celebrates the durability of the MST and speaks to the productive tensions that characterize its lived, vital, and daily struggle for agrarian reform. The material will be of interest to scholars of anthropology, sociology, political science, Latin American studies and beyond.

2023 LASA Visual Culture Studies Section Book Prize, Latin American Studies Association (LASA)The first comprehensive study of cartonera, a vibrant publishing phenomenon born in Latin America.A publishing phenomenon and artistic project, cartonera was born in the wake of Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis. Infused with a rebellious spirit, it has exploded in popularity, with hundreds of publishers across Latin America and Europe making colorful, low-cost books out of cardboard salvaged from the street. Taking Form, Making Worlds is the first comprehensive study of cartonera. Drawing on interdisciplinary research conducted across Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, the authors show how this hands-on practice has fostered a politically engaged network of writers, artists, and readers. More than a social movement, cartonera uses texts, workshops, encounters, and exhibitions to foster community and engagement through open-ended forms that are at once artistic and social. For various groups including waste-pickers, Indigenous communities, rural children, and imprisoned women, cartonera provides a platform for unique stories and sparks collaborations that bring the walls of the “lettered city” tumbling down. In contexts of stigma and exclusion, cartonera collectives give form to a decolonial aesthetics of resistance, making possible a space of creative experimentation through which plural worlds can be brought to life.