Banca de DEFESA: HELENA RODRIGUES LOPES

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : HELENA RODRIGUES LOPES
DATE: 19/08/2022
TIME: 14:30
LOCAL: CPDA/UFRRJ (inclui participação online de uma examinadora)
TITLE:

 

 “To take root again as one says of a plant”: a study on the ecology of practices of the Seed Houses at the Seeds Exchange Network in Sobral region, Ceará, Brazil

KEY WORDS:

 

KEYWORDS

        Seeds. Seed Houses. Ecology of Practices. Autonomy. RIS Sobral.

PAGES: 266
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Sociologia
SUBÁREA: Sociologia Rural
SUMMARY:

 

SUMMARY

Seed Houses are places for the collective storage of seeds and act as reference points for the Seed Exchange Network (RIS) in the region of Sobral, Ceará. RIS Sobral, in turn, is an organizational sphere in which farmers, agrarian reform settlers, quilombolas and their representative organizations, in addition to the Cáritas Diocesana de Sobral, coordinate activities and responsibilities between the participants and the Houses. Following the Seed Houses, the time frame of this research covers from the 1970s to the present day. The first Seed Banks, as they were called at the time, were created in the 1970s, in the context of struggles for land and social rights in the countryside. Anchored in political disputes, in the Banks “we never just talked about seeds”. Farmers participating in the RIS Sobral Seed Houses identify that one of the fundamental roles played by these spaces is associated with the promotion of autonomy, above all, in their words, the “autonomy in relation to seeds controlled by the patrão”. These findings place the Seed Houses in a complex tangle: the stored seeds are not isolated entities and can promote autonomy in relation to seeds controlled by others. Based on the notion of ecology of practices discussed by Isabelle Stengers, the research sought to investigate the links and meanings associated with autonomy, in the different ways in which it is experienced by social agents. Thus, taking the Seeds Houses as an entry point, the investigation seeks to highlight the interdependence bonds that are being woven between farmers, the Caatinga, the Catholic Church, the Rural Workers Unions (STTRs), the Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), biotechnologies, alternative technologies and legislation. The thesis analyzes, from this perspective, the many struggles and actors that make up the ecology of practices that emerge from the daily relationships established by farmers with the Seed Houses. The methodological strategy of the research adopts an ethnographic perspective, making use, also, of other research techniques, such as documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with key actors. The lessons learned from this work do not point to an ecology of practices (ultimately) concluded, but they illuminate what keeps the actors together, considering the sense of belonging built through the daily relationships established between farmers and Seed Houses, and the many bonds that, not without divergences and tensions, promote autonomy and announce the continuity of multiple struggles.

 

BANKING MEMBERS:
Interna - 1432841 - CLAUDIA JOB SCHMITT
Interno - 1436134 - MARCELO CARVALHO ROSA
Interna - 1551581 - THEREZA CRISTINA CARDOSO MENEZES
Externa à Instituição - ALYNE DE CASTRO COSTA - PUC - RJ
Externa à Instituição - FLÁVIA CHARÃO MARQUES