The Associative Action of Urban and Peri-urban Women Farmers in Northeast, Brazil: Power Dynamics and Strategic Alliances

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify opportunities and challenges arising from the strategic alliances between small-scale female cultivators in the sector of urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA) and other members of the social and solidarity economy (SSE) movement in Northeast Brazil. Results are drawn from a qualitative analysis based on interviews with 50 women active in UPA groups/ associations in the states of Ceará and Pernambuco, and with 14 SSE local leaders in July-August 2016. While many studies in the field deal with community dynamics and movement-building among landless rural workers and peasant collective struggles for land access and social justice, little attention has yet been devoted to investigate the political role of female UPA associative work within the SSE.  Thus, the proposed study aims to expand the critical analysis of social movements by examining, from an intersectional feminist perspective, the following questions: How do women active in collective UPA initiatives and living in favelas involve and position themselves within the SSE movement? Do they use the space of marginality to fight for their rights and negotiate their claims? Does the associative work help to combat the perpetuation of patriarchal relations and other entrenched hierarchies of power? Finally, what are the outcomes of those alliances promoting dissident expressions of resistance against postcolonial social exclusion, particularly from Afro-Brazilian and indigenous native women?