HETEROGENEITY OF KNOWLEDGE IN RURAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

In this article, a discussion is introduced which is still little divulged in Brazil, on the role of local knowledge in rural sustainable development. The first part of the article analyzes three directions of discussion (participative populism, agroecology and third-world sustainability) within a line of reasoning which emphasizes the need to generate a different scientific paradigm from that associated with modern agriculture, which rescues and incorporates neglected knowledge of farmers in the definition of agricultural, research and extension policies. These discussions coincide since they assume the same dichotomy which they criticize, but in a modified version. In the second part of the article a conceptualization less reductionist and dichotomous is proposed. For this, it is suggested that this knowledge be considered as hybrid, a heterogenous mixtures among various types of knowledge. The farmers are considered here as social actors with ability not only to carry out creative experiments but also with the intelligence to continuously absorb and retransform ideas and technologies which they receive. This implies no longer idealizing local knowlegde as intrinsically more sustainable, as well as allowing a redefinition of the relations between this knowledge and the scientific. Finally, topics for a research agenda are proposed, which could improve the discussion on sustainable agriculture.