Agrarian Colonization and the Problem of Conviviality-Inequality in Twentieth-Century Latin America

This paper examines agrarian colonization as a distinctive state development policy in twentieth-century Latin America. After discussing its intellectual roots in the nineteenth century, the study explores post-World War II agrarian colonization policies in Bolivia, Colombia, and Brazil. Proposing conviviality-inequality as an analytical lens, the paper contends that the concept of colonization, rooted in European colonialism, evolved with Latin Americans aligning it with national policy goals after 1930, particularly after World War II. Finally, the paper suggests that adopting a conviviality-inequality perspective enables us to challenge linear narratives and to explore the complex interplay between politics, nature, and society in the history of agrarian colonization. Although agrarian colonization aligns with the emergence of the Plantationocene, local specificity reveals diverse convivialities embedded in conflicting rural futures envisioned by different stakeholders.