Banca de DEFESA: FILIPE MOREIRA DE AZEREDO TAVARES
Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.STUDENT : FILIPE MOREIRA DE AZEREDO TAVARES
DATE: 31/08/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: CPDA/UFRRJ
TITLE:
The construction of the political representation of rural wage workers: from the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) to the National Confederation of Rural Wage Workers (CONTAR)
KEY WORDS:
PAGES: 331
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Sociologia
SUBÁREA: Sociologia Rural
SUMMARY:
This thesis analyzes how the political representation of the category of “rural wageworkers” has been constructed in Brazil, taking as its central focus the conflicts, disputes, and interpretations that shaped its constitution throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. It demonstrates that this category was historically constructed and contested by different political institutions, trade unions, and ideological currents. The study covers the period from the creation of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) in 1922 to the first decade of the National Confederation of Rural Wage Workers (CONTAR), founded in 2015, and is based on the analysis of trade union documents, legislation, periodicals, interviews, and specialized literature. Throughout this trajectory, the study demonstrates that the category of “rural wage worker” cannot be understood as homogeneous, particularly in the period preceding the modernization of agriculture during the 1960s and 1970s. Workers identified as “agricultural workers”, “sharecroppers”, “resident workers”, and “boias-frias” (temporary rural laborers), among other designations, experienced different forms of integration into the world of work and were interpreted and classified by political and trade union organizations according to distinct political projects. This heterogeneity resulted both from regional differences and from the coexistence of labor relations characterized by employer-provided housing, family labor, and access to land, elements that challenged the very notion of rural wage labor. The dissertation further demonstrates that the creation of the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (CONTAG) in 1963 consolidated a trade union structure centered on the broad legal category of “rural worker”. From that point onward, transformations in labor relations and conflicts between small producers, later organized under the category of family farmers, and rural wage workers gave rise to processes of trade union dissociation and fostered the creation of trade unions, federations, and, subsequently, a confederation specifically representing this category. Finally, this thesis analyzes CONTAR's political and institutional actions between 2015 and 2025, examining how the confederation has redefined historical agendas, developed its own political projects, and acted in different arenas of interaction with the State. It demonstrates how CONTAR has redefined strategies for the representation and mobilization of rural wage workers, as well as the limits and potential of these strategies within the contemporary context of Brazilian rural trade unionism.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interna - ***.209.648-** - LEONILDE SERVOLO DE MEDEIROS - UFRRJ
Interna - 1576873 - PRISCILA DELGADO DE CARVALHO
Externa à Instituição - ÉLLEN GALLERANI CORRÊA - IFAL
Externo à Instituição - EVERTON LAZARETTI PICOLOTTO - UFSM
Externo à Instituição - MARCO ANTONIO DOS SANTOS TEIXEIRA