Peasants Movements in Alterglobalization
In the capitalist society of the second modernity, the notion of boundary is undermined by the process of globalisation. Yet this process has created its own antidote : alterglobalization (the « other » globalization). Amongst the different social strata partaking in this movement, the contemporary peasantry plays a crucial role. Yet, through their position as producers and transformers of nature, peasants necessarily belong to a country, to a region, to a place; they are anchored in a given territory. Thus, the contemporary peasantry, due to its essential position within the society/nature « metabolism », is an important counter-power to the present globalization. This paper analyses how some European peasants contribute to the invention of a new culture, via their participation in the alter-globalization movement, a culture based on initiatives linking the particular and the universal. In so doing, it re-examines the notion of boundary from an anthropological perspective.