Owners of the cane: The creation and continuity of an agro-industrial elite in northeastern Brazil.
Item
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Title
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Owners of the cane: The creation and continuity of an agro-industrial elite in northeastern Brazil.
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Identifier
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AAI9304703
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identifier
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9304703
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Creator
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Matwychuk, Margo Lyn.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Eric R. Wolf
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Date
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1992
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural | History, Latin American
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Abstract
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This dissertation examines the impact of global and national transformations on the organization, relations and strategies of landowning elites in Northeast Brazil. The premise is that major changes in the organization of wealth and power are transmitted to particular regions of a national economy/society through the actions and responses of regional elites. The impact of economic and political shifts at the level of the nation and of the world system are seen to be mediated by shifts in elite strategies, shifts that have involved alterations in the mix of relevant resources and in the relations of local elites to other regional groups and interests.;The impact of these shifts on the sugar industry in the northeastern state of Paraiba, Brazil serves as the basis for this examination. I look at the processes of capitalization, industrialization, and modernization of the industry and to the attendant changes in the socioeconomic structure and relations of power. The historical development of Paraiba's usinas from the end of the last century until the 1980s is discussed. I explore the founding of the state's usinas, their ownership and development histories, and their role in shaping the local physical and social environment.;In discussing the utility of the concepts of local or regional elites, and elite families, I focus on the families of usina-owners, or usineiros, in Paraiba. Here I am concerned with the historical and contemporary continuities and modifications of these families and their relations with the state and other hegemonic interests. I also seek to uncover some of their behaviors and practices which have influenceed their reality and expression as an elite presence. Processes and strategies of elite social, political, and economic organization are discussed primarily in relation to members of one particular usineiro family. Their relations and activities vis-a-vis other elite sectors and the local labor force are seen to have brought about realignments in the local power structure. The implications of these realignments for agro-industrial elites, for their position in the contemporary social and political system, and to the present distribution of power are also addressed.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
