XXXI Congreso Internacional sobre Aprendizaje

Abstract

This research takes place at the intersection of agroecology, solidarity, and feminism and attempts to explicate how organization and practice manifested resilience in the Northeast of Brazil while promoting the development of an integrated local food network. The work identified gaps and outlooks in family agriculture in the Northeast of Brazil beyond the enticements of food systems as it took the standpoint of the women farmers that founded the network. The utilization of institutional ethnography (IE) as a methodological approach allowed an analysis of how institutionalized entities interact with the organization of local food systems in this micro-region. The IE approach developed by Dorothy E. Smith is intended as a way to explicate the dilemmas within everyday lives, therefore the study looked beyond people as subjects of analysis, it challenged the processes of objectification that still typify social science research, instead, it focused the research analysis in the objectified relations of governance and social coordination between public institutions and the social networks that intermingle the participants in various ways pointing out how this participation and interactions have shaped or reshaped their collective experiences. The work highlighted the unique ways in which women’s leadership, self-determination, social knowledge and agroecology can manifest resilience in family agriculture moulding a sustainable food system working model in one of the most challenging regions of Brazil in terms of agriculture.