This work aims to present the way of life of a peasant social group and its history of constant government interventions. This community, called Canudos, is located in Bahia State, in the Médio São Francisco area. The social actors to which we refer move within pluriactive activities (farm work and small-scale fishing are the most important), and present unique sociabilities, familistic and identitary relations. We have verified that this distinctiveness, which is based mainly on the precedence of the several family groups, generate internal conflicts that become powerful and make it difficult for the government to implement intervention projects. This article intends to analyze this practice and contradictions of this social process. Data were collected from a methodological fusion between the technique of in-depth case study and diagnosis analysis of the land systems.
Peasantry; settlement; identity; family farming; mediators
