Rural settlement as an educational space: the case of the José Lutzenberger Agroforestry Community

Abstract

This article addresses education in agroecology and reflects on the educational potential of an agroecological settlement based on the description of peasant territorial experiences of building agroecological systems, as well as the pedagogical and extensionist relationship of the university (UFPR Litoral) with the José Lutzenberger Agroforestry Community, an agrarian reform settlement located on the coast of Paraná. In the studied territory, local knowledge and ancestral traditional practices of farmers have been socialized in spaces for exchange and dialogue of knowledge. The Federal University of Paraná Litoral Sector has benefited from this unique experience of agroecological transition orchestrated by the community, enhancing the practice of building agroecological knowledge based on traditional and scientific knowledge. The university's contact with the reality of an agroecological settlement enables a socio-pedagogical, human, technological and political training of students, technicians and teachers, aligned with the four principles of Education in Agroecology: life, diversity, complexity and transformation.