Flynn, Alex. 2013. "Mística, myself and I: Beyond cultural politics in Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement." Critique of Anthropology 33(2): 168-192.
How do grassroots social movements respond to shifting perceptions within their bases
on key issues? This article centres its analysis on the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais
Sem Terra (MST – Landless RuralWorkers’ Movement) and instances of the movement’s
cultural activity, in particular, mı´stica. It is recognised that the MST’s cultural activity
reflects a deep engagement with cultural politics, and further, that the movement’s
culture sector contributes directly to the delineation and formation of the ‘landless’
identity. However, from an ethnographic perspective and privileging the experiences of
the members of the movement, this article goes beyond cultural politics to suggest that
shifting notions of individualism, in the context of the movement’s cultural activity, are
having an impact on MSTartistic expression and members’ daily lives. The article argues
that from within the bases of the movement, there has been a shift from what can be
termed a receptive individualism, where members internalise cultural activity, to an
expressive individualism, where members actively seek to shape the movement’s cultural
programmes. Members speak of a lack of visceral energy that the culture sector’s
activities used to possess, which provides the impetus for the article’s concluding
remarks on how social movements respond to transformation more widely.