Process of (des)territoriality in a rural community in Bahia

Abstract

The globalization process of rural areas occurs in parallel with gradating, intense, and generalized lack of territoriality process, bringing out philosophical reflections over topics as identity and territory. The main objective of this study is to determine how a tobacco enterprise could influence the social and cultural identity of the rural community of Laranjeiras, Muritiba (BA), throughout some processes of “dis-belonging”/uprooting. Data was collect and described using an open observation method, through structured interviews and informal conversations. We noted that the company presence had provoked an intense process of breaking family roots, with loss of identity on social and cultural traditions, in addition to the consequent reduction in the physical space of community. It should be noted the rise in insalubrity by the increase of particle pollution, heavy traffic of large trucks, and the characteristic odor of chemical inputs in tobacco monoculture. Still, the community seems to believe that industry is “a necessary evil” given the supply of jobs. It was also verified the exodus of the young for better opportunities and that they had faced the uprooting. Another problem in the community is the appearance of diseases attributed to the uses of agrochemicals commonly applied on tobacco cultivation, by the company. It is possible to conclude that the community is still suffering a process of lack of territory’s social and cultural identity, associated with the common consequences of rural environment globalization, as the loss of land and traditional rights and customs.