Peasant struggle and action research in Colombia

This dissertation treats two main subjects; peasant organization and struggle for land, and action research. The analysis is based on data from official sources, research reports and monographs and extensive interviews in the region of Córdoba and Sucre with informants selected so as to include all the different groups and organizations who in one way or another had participated as actors or observers in the processes and events under study. Three different approaches to development studies, modernization theory, dependency theory and the articulation of modes of production approach, are discussed. A theoretical account is given of the peasant economy. This constitutes the theoretical framework for the interpreta¬tion of the social structures, relations and processes studied in the Colombian regions. The background and emergence of action research in Latin America is discussed and different types of action research are distinguished according to their differing epistemological and theoretical foundations. The action research practiced by the Colombian research group, Rosca, is then presented and discussed in relationship to these. Rosca’s initia¬tion of the study of the history of popular struggle and organization in the region, 'the critical reappropriation of history• and its systematic devolution through new means and media of communication to these groups are analysed. Then follows a detailed description and analysis of two typical cases of land reappropriation and the forms of social organiza¬tion and production in the reappropriated areas. The conflicts between the collective actors and the politicization of the peasant struggle are discussed from the point of departure of the theoretical framework and the characterization of the national and regional contexts presented earlier. On the basis of the analysis of the Colombian case, an attempt is made to identify some problems and issues of general significance for peasant movements, popular struggle for social transformation and action research.