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The homeopathy/agroecology nexus: a discourse-centered analysis in a Brazilian agrarian settlement

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Abstract

Since the end of the Uruguay Round, mainstream policies have considered agriculture as a global business. Alternative movements argue that agriculture should have a special status among commodities, using a set of concepts such as harmony, territory, sobriety, and sociality, which do not refer to economic vocabulary, precisely because a revolution cannot occur if the hegemonic ideology and rhetoric are not challenged. Our discourse-centered analysis suggests that neoliberal discourse recycles Marxist concepts to impose its hegemony, and that agrarian movements build another narrative grounded on non-materialistic values. We expose a Brazilian case study situated in the Amazonian State of Rondonia to illustrate this shift from conventional agriculture to a specific homeopathy/agroecology nexus embracing human and natural health.

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Notes

  1. This pressure has put farmers among the professionals more likely to commit suicide around the world, (Bossard et al. 2013; Kale 2011; Beard et al. 2011).

  2. Agroecology can be defined (1) as an agricultural science devoted to organic or ecologically sustainable agriculture, (2) as a set of disconnected practices aiming at reducing the use of chemical inputs, and (3) as a holistic system aiming at restoring natural balances by creating “agro-ecosystems.” This paper is based on the latter.

  3. The Land Pastoral (Comissão Pastoral da Terra) was created in 1975 by the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB). At the beginning, it aimed at providing spiritual assistance to rural populations. It soon became involved in social mobilization “for liberty and dignity, in a land free from capitalist stranglehold.” (http://www.cptnacional.org.br/)

  4. Field studies were funded by French Agence Nationale de La Recherche through the program “Sustainable development in Brazilian Amazon” (DURAMAZ 1 and 2).

  5. Source: http://abhpopular.com.br/

  6. Samuel Hahnemann created homeopathy by exploring the principle of similarity between cure and disease. This technique is explained in Organon der Heilkunst (1810).

  7. GMOs are indeed a perfect foil, being a technologized agricultural product, controlled by multinational corporations, thus accentuating farmers’ dependency towards markets and financial speculation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank João Cerqueira de Souza (João Abelhão) and Dona Maria José de Santana, Sr. Cláudio Almeida Jatobá and Dona Míriam Jatobá, Amadeu Vanderlei and Dona Rosinei da Silva Araújo, Mauricio Vaz de Matos e Maria Imaculada Ramos Vaz de Matos, and all the inhabitants of the Margarida Alves Settlement who kindly received us. We also thank those who participated to the field study: Sofia Dagna, Marcel Emeric Bizerra de Araújo, Luciana Borges, Liz-Rejane Issberner, Guillaume Marchand, Philippe Léna. We are also grateful to the members of the COOMEAFES and to the employees of Nova União Council. We are also grateful to Hervé Théry, François-Michel Le Tourneau and the whole team of DURAMAZ program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tours University, Tours, France

    Florent Kohler

  2. Centre de Recherche et Documentation sur les Amériques, Paris, France

    Florent Kohler & Marcelo Negrão

  3. CREDA, UMR 7227—CNRS/Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France

    Florent Kohler & Marcelo Negrão

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  1. Florent Kohler
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Correspondence to Florent Kohler.

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Kohler, F., Negrão, M. The homeopathy/agroecology nexus: a discourse-centered analysis in a Brazilian agrarian settlement. Dialect Anthropol 42, 241–255 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-018-9499-4

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