The Meaning of the Land: The Case Study of the Rural Settled Families in the Andradina Region
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Abstract
This paper analyzes what the land means to the settled farmproducers as well as their interpretation in light of its value. In a preliminary approach, this study seeks to identify the probable relation of this statement with their previous occupations and the production and commercialization strategies developed on the plots of land. This work is originated from a wider research that investigated the production and commercialization methods used by eight settled families in the region of Andradina, upon the application of questionnaires and the accomplishment through interviews. The analysis of the producers' conception in relation to the land was based on the answers from 50 interviewed people who had straightforwardly dealt with this subject. The main productive activity of the settlements is the dairy cattle breeding, but the families apply additional important strategies as selling their products directly to retail and/or direct-to-consumer, and also using the production for their own consumption. As per their answers to the questions about the meaning of the land, the settled people showed that the land had a fundamental role into their lives. The aspect most
mentioned was the conquest of the land which allowed them to leave that
hard life when they worked as employee, followed by the answer that the
land hugely improved the quality of their lives, linking such assertion with:
"tranquility"; "a better place to grow their children up"; "to keep working
as agriculturist"; "independence of their lives and autonomy in their day
to day work"; "stability"; moreover the guarantee of the family subsistence
and "abundance". More subjective and emotional aspects are also identified
in their responses, when they associate the land to the childhood memories
and values as love, happiness, hope, peace of mind, expressed sometimes
through poetical descriptions and/or religious character. The study of the
kind of answers (more objective and rational or subjective and emotional)
on the subject indicated that the interviewees' previous occupations
influenced the responses.
Keywords: Meaning of the Land; Rural Settled Families; Andradina Region.
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References
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