Land reform, agricultural work and rural education: unveiling historical connections

Abstract

This article discusses the historical connections of rural education, which articulated land reform and peasant labor in its construction process. Such process has been influenced by the conflict between the forces representing the work in the countryside, associated with land reform and education, and the forces representing the capital, linked with large farms and agribusiness. To strengthen rural education, it is important to deepen the understanding of this process. To this end, it is necessary to refer to history in order to reveal the conflicting interests related to land reform, coupled with the relationship between agricultural work and rural education, which does or does not ensure that farmers remain in the land. For this purpose, the analysis of the connections between land reform, agricultural work and rural education focuses on the period between 1910-1970, and addresses, on the one hand, the cooperation policies the United States established with the Brazilian government, including technical assistance and rural education, and on the other hand, the actions and initiatives of the popular social movements which opposed such policies, especially those of Movimento de Educação de Base (MEB – Grassroots Education Movement). This study may thus contribute to understanding the obstacles faced by rural education.