Abstract
Urban Agriculture has achieved considerable visibility in contemporary times, although it is not a new practice, as its remote origin is associated with the emergence of cities. These agricultural practices in cities have shown to be positive but permeated by contradictions. This article analyzes an urban collective garden located in the city of Porto Alegre, RS. The Horta da Formiga was observed as a social field through a two-year participatory investigation. The authors sought to answer the research question: How do protagonist agents of a collective urban garden reconcile as inherent contradictions to this social field? Pierre Bourdieu’s apparatus was used as a theoretical-methodological lens. The corollary of the developed argument is that the more the protagonists of Horta da Formiga get closer to the capitals considered legitimate to the state, the more they can reconcile the contradictions in this field. The study identified that, when considering the analysis based on Bourdieu’s notions of capital and habitus category, despite the individuals’ agency, they face structured conditions in the field that do not allow more organic and diverse forms of reconciliation of contradictions.
Keywords:
Urban agriculture; Contradictions; Pierre Bourdieu