Sementes de transformação: agência e protagonismo das mulheres agricultoras em Concórdia no sistema de parcerias com a agroindústria Sadia (1970-2010)

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the protagonism of women farmers in the municipality of Concórdia (SC), between the years 1970 and 2010, focusing on the agency strategies developed in response to the limitations imposed by the partnership system of the Sadia agroindustry. The study is grounded in the context of agricultural modernization and production integration promoted by agroindustries, which profoundly impacted social, economic, and gender relations in rural areas. The research aims to understand how these women faced the challenges imposed by a development model based on a productivist logic and structured by gender hierarchies, as well as their forms of organization and resistance in the face of the invisibilization of their labor and the restriction of autonomy. The objectives include analyzing the structural conditions that influenced women’s participation in rural properties, unions, and representative bodies, as well as identifying their daily practices that reveal agency and resistance within the agroindustrial system, thereby problematizing their roles. The methodology is based on oral history, using semi-structured interviews, and draws from microhistory, allowing for the appreciation of individual experiences and the reconstruction of trajectories from the subjects' perspectives. Theoretically, the work dialogues with E.P. Thompson’s notions of experience and agency and with Joan Scott’s analytical category of gender, which helps to understand how power relations are inscribed in social practices and female identities in rural contexts. Document analysis and the cross-referencing of secondary sources contributed to contextualizing the narratives. The main findings indicate that, despite the concentration of power in the hands of the agroindustry and the reproduction of traditional gender roles, women farmers developed coping strategies, such as maintaining productive home gardens, raising small animals outside corporate control, and actively participating in solidarity networks, unions, and social movements. The dissertation concludes that female protagonism in the countryside is not only expressed through explicit militancy, but also through everyday actions that challenge, reconfigure, and put pressure on existing social and economic structures. From this analysis, the research contributes to a deeper historical understanding of women’s participation in rural areas, offering insights for critical reflections on public policies, agroecological practices, and the processes of democratizing gender relations in the countryside.