"Quem não tem costume destrói": agroestratégias e resistências camponesas nos Cocais Maranhenses (1970-2015)

Abstract

The main objective of this dissertation is to analyze how the peasant populations of Cocais Maranhenses were affected in terms of work and nature following the establishment and consolidation of agro-industrial projects in the region. In the context of intensified policies aimed at rural development and modernization during the Civil-Military Dictatorship (1964- 1985), Maranhão was included in a national project that prioritized profit over the livelihoods of rural populations, who were often treated as obstacles to progress. In 1969, the enactment of the Sarney Land Law legitimized land concentration and regulated modern large estates, with land passing from public to private ownership, facilitating the acquisition of land by the wealthiest and reinforcing the exclusion of the Maranhão peasantry (Asselin, 1982). With the facilitation of the state, economic groups were encouraged to occupy the territory of Maranhão and set up their businesses. In Cocais, the 1970s were marked by the arrival of entrepreneurs who established agribusinesses and other projects aimed at exploiting natural resources, profoundly altering the living and working conditions of local populations. Quilombolas, coconut breakers, and indigenous peoples began to face increasingly intense conflicts with the new enterprises, in disputes involving land and the relationship between these communities and nature. In addition, many rural workers are recruited to work on these agro-industrial projects, suffering from various forms of labor exploitation. The research methodology combines oral accounts using oral history with newspaper sources, local and national newspapers and periodicals, as well as data from the Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and official documents, reports, and legislation. The analysis of the material was conducted from an interdisciplinary perspective, which seeks to integrate different areas of knowledge to understand the complexity of historical and social processes (Jupiassu, 2006). Finally, the experiences of these rural men and women revealed the construction of meanings and resistance in the face of expropriations, prohibitions, the degradation of natural resources, and precarious working conditions