Return from the World

Gregory Duff Morton

ISBN 10: 0226832929 / ISBN 13: 9780226832920

Published by The University of Chicago Press, US, 2024

About this Item

An anthropologist's investigation of why some Brazilians choose to leave behind a booming economy and return to their villages. In Return from the World, anthropologist Gregory Duff Morton traces the migrations of Brazilian workers who leave a thriving labor market and return to their home villages to become peasant farmers. Morton seeks to understand what it means to turn one's back deliberately on the promise of economic growth. Giving up their positions in factories, at construction sites, and as domestic workers, these migrants travel thousands of miles back to villages without running water or dependable power. There, many take up subsistence farming. Some become activists with the MST, Brazil's militant movement of landless peasants. Bringing their stories vividly to life, Morton dives into the dreams and disputes at play in finding freedom in the shared rejection of growth.

Seller Inventory # LU-9780226832920

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Return from the World
• Publisher: The University of Chicago Press, US
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226832929
• ISBN 13: 9780226832920
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: New
• Weight: 367 grams

About this title

Synopsis

An anthropologist’s investigation of why some Brazilians choose to leave behind a booming economy and return to their villages.

In Return from the World, anthropologist Gregory Duff Morton traces the migrations of Brazilian workers who leave a thriving labor market and return to their home villages to become peasant farmers. Morton seeks to understand what it means to turn one’s back deliberately on the promise of economic growth.

Giving up their positions in factories, at construction sites, and as domestic workers, these migrants travel thousands of miles back to villages without running water or dependable power. There, many take up subsistence farming. Some become activists with the MST, Brazil’s militant movement of landless peasants. Bringing their stories vividly to life, Morton dives into the dreams and disputes at play in finding freedom in the shared rejection of growth.

About the Author

Gregory Duff Morton is assistant professor at City College of New York, where he teaches anthropology and Latin American studies. This is his first book.