Zero hunger : political culture and antipoverty policy in Northeast Brazil / Aaron Ansell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ansell, Aaron, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poverty--Government policy--Brazil.

Poverty.

Economic assistance, Domestic--Political aspects--Brazil.

Economic assistance, Domestic.

Social conditions.

Economic conditions.

Economic assistance, Domestic--Political aspects.

Poverty--Government policy.

Brazil--Politics and government--2003-.

Brazil.

Politics and government.

Brazil--Economic conditions--21st century.

Brazil--Social conditions--21st century.

Physical Description:

xiii, 239 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Chapel Hill [North Carolina] : The University of North Carolina Press, [2014]

Summary:

When Luiz inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil's Workers, Party soared to power in 2003, he promised to end hunger in the nation. In a vivid ethnography with an innovative approach to Brazilian politics, Aaron Ansell assesses President Lola's flagship antipoverty program, Zero Hunger (Fome Zero), focusing on its rollout among agricultural workers in the poor northeastern state of Piauí. Linking the administration's fight against poverty to a more subtle effort to change the region's political culture, Ansell rethinks she nature of patronage and provides a novel perspective on the state under Workers' Party rule. Aiming to strengthen democratic processes, frontline officials attempted to dismantle the long-standing patron-client relationships-Ansell identifies them as "intimate hierarchles"-that bound poor people to local elites, illuminating the symbolic techniques by which officials attempted to influence Zero Hunger beneficiaries' attitudes toward power, class, history, and ethnic identity, Ansell shows how the assault on patronage increased political awareness but also confuted and alienated the program's participants. He suggests that, instead of condemning patronage, policymakers should harness the emotional energy of intimate hierarchies to better facilitate the participation of all citizens in political and economic development. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: intimate hierarchy and its enemies

Convulsions of democracy: from national politics to local hunger

Hunger, envy, and egalitarianism in Passarinho

Intimate hierarchy and its counters

The prodigal children return to the countryside

Induced nostalgia

Programmatic pilgrimage

Marginalizing the mayor

Conclusion: intimacy and democracy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781469613970

1469613972

OCLC:

860944074