Abstract
The concept of “peasant” is today one of the most widespread among scholars of rural social space. In Brazil, its mobilization (often at the level of doxa) comes down to two situations: as a theoretical option and as an ideological option, that is, as a theoretical-conceptual construct mobilized in the academic field, especially by social scientists, to analyze the rural environment and, within it, small farmers, and also as a new ideological orientation of popular social movements in the countryside, which seek to converge forces and give new meaning to old agendas through the triad of agroecology, agrarian reform and peasantry. By analyzing how the category is present in Brazilian cultural imagery, this article sought to problematize its shortcomings and potential in both situations.
Keywords:
Peasant; ideological option; theoretical option; critique