Traditional communities in the Brazilian Amazon and the emergence of new political identities: the struggle of thequebradeiras de coco babaçu—babassu breaker women

Under the canopy: Gender and forests in Amazonia

“…Women babassu nut collectors -collectors and breakers of a small palm coconut used for its oily kernels -successfully organized their own association in the 1990s, lobbying for "Free Babassu" laws at local and federal levels, and leading the organization of Amazonian women extractivists (Porro et al 2012). Babbasu nut collection and sale (for edible oils, margarine, soap and cosmetics) has been combined for centuries with family agriculture in a region of Maranhão state where social movements historically have struggled for autonomy from patrons and bosses, and from cattle ranchers seeking to take over their traditional lands (Porro 2003).…”

Embaixo do dossel: Gênero e florestas na Amazônia

“…Um projeto descentralizado de descascamento e secagem das castanhas ofereceu para as mulheres e homens mais jovens um acesso mais autônomo à geração de renda, mas teve curta duração (Campbell 1996, 48;Hecht 2007 Shanley et al 2011, 236). As mulheres catadoras de babaçu -coletoras e quebradeiras de cocos dessa pequena palmeira usada para obter suas sementes oleaginosas -organizaram com êxito sua própria associação na década de 1990, exerceram pressão política para o estabelecimento de leis a favor do "babaçu livre" em nível local e federal, e lideraram a organização de mulheres extrativistas amazônicas (Porro et al 2012). A coleta e venda do babaçu (utilizado para a fabricação de óleos comestíveis, margarinas, sabões e cosméticos) juntou-se por séculos com a agricultura familiar em uma região do estado do Maranhão, onde historicamente os movimentos sociais têm lutado pela autonomia dos patrões e chefes, e contra os pecuaristas que buscavam ocupar suas terras tradicionais (Porro 2003).…”

Social identity, local knowledge and adaptive management by traditional communities of the babassu region in Maranhão

“…The shifting of gender roles within the babassu economy was likewise affecting the social structure of family units. Indeed, the extraction of babassu has been an active arena for the construction of practices, discourses and social relations in the last two decades, extending the participation of extractivists to broader dimensions of the social and political discourse (PORRO et al, 2011).…”

“…Our direct work experience with agroextractivist producers and their organizations in the 1980s and 1990s, and subsequent visits for anthropological fieldwork, enabled us to observe firsthand their strategies to deal with limited access to resources and the political ecology of this context (PORRO et al, 2011;PORRO, 2005). One of our studies centered on the adoption of cattle ranching by farmers in Maranhão, using ethnographic methods with a focus on life histories and social trajectories (PORRO et al, 2004).…”