| Full text | |
| Author(s): |
Borsatto, Ricardo Serra
;
Souza-Esquerdo, Vanilde Ferreira
;
Duval, Henrique Carmona
;
Franco, Fernando Silveira
;
Grigoletto, Fabio
Total Authors: 5
|
| Document type: | Journal article |
| Source: | AGRICULTURE AND HUMAN VALUES; v. 39, n. 1, p. 14-pg., 2021-06-01. |
| Abstract | |
Brazil stands out at the global level for having implemented several policies intending to promote agroecology as a productive paradigm for small-holder farmers. However, the impacts of this process of institutionalization of agroecology still lack research and debates that evaluate the effectiveness of these policies. In this paper, we assess and discuss the impacts of a policy specifically focused on education in agroecology, the support to the establishment of Centers for the Study of Agroecology and Organic Production (NEAs) in more than 150 higher education institutions throughout Brazil. NEAs bring together teachers, researchers, and students who engage in teaching, research, and extension activities in partnerships with peasant farmers, their organizations, and rural extension workers. The hypothesis that guides our analysis is that this support to establish NEAs allowed redistribution of symbolic power in the universities where they were established, supporting agroecology to gain greater legitimacy inside and outside the university field. Based on an in-depth study of four NEAs, performed through participant observation and documentary analysis, the NEAs are evaluated from the perspective of social fields in dispute, first in a university sphere, but also from the perspective of training people in integrative and transdisciplinary thinking that will contest the industrial-corporate food regime. Our findings suggest that the State support to university groups dedicated to the promotion of agroecology has allowed the construction of what we have named agroecological spaces, which symbolically dispute the dominant paradigms in educational institutions, supporting the constitution of material and immaterial agroecological territories. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 17/04577-1 - The role of public policies in promoting localized and sustainable agri-food systems: limits and potentials |
| Grantee: | Ricardo Serra Borsatto |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships abroad - Research |