EPISTEMIC-POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF RURAL EDUCATION FROM A LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

We observe multiple experiences of resistance in Latin America in the new millennium, especially in the political action of indigenous, peasant afrodescendent social movements, as they try to consolidate political projects of an emancipatory nature. In the field of education, we can see these projects emerge as a new and fundamental category, that uses the language of otherness to resignify political, social and cultural life in the correlation of forces between civil society and the State. This work aims to deepen this reflection, based on the experience of rural education, or "Education for the Countryside" (Educación del Campo), as an historical and political project of peasant social movements in Brazil. We focus on the epistemic-political dimensions of Education for the Countryside, and its articulation with an historical-critical reading of reality of rural Brazil. It is thus central to the genesis of an 'other' episteme, and is part of a new political culture among rural subjects. In particular, we highlight the key turning points of rural education in the context of Latin American political struggle.