Agroecological Peasant Territories: Resistance And Existence In The Struggle For Emancipation In Brazil

We explore peasant territories as an emancipatory alternative in the context of authoritarian populism and neo-liberalism by focusing on two agroecological peasant territories in Brazil. We argue that territories harbour socio-ecological, cultural-political and politico-institutional bases that engender different forms of resistance and existence. Peasant territories build and defend emancipatory alternatives by creating self-governed knowledge and production systems, by problematising and mobilising against exploitative relations, and by transforming parts of the state. We conclude that peasant territories provide a basis for emancipatory transformation. What is more, they can be considered as emancipatory alternatives in themselves.