West Virginia University Press The Political Ecology of Education: Brazil's Landless Worker's Movement and the Politics of Knowledge (Radical Natures)

Review "This extraordinary book is about nothing less than survival: the survival of workers, communities, and the landscapes that they call home in the Brazilian Amazon. Meek weaves together beautifully written ethnography with a brilliant analysis of agricultural political ecologies. This is a must-read for all of us who care about rural communities and sustainable futures." Paige West, Columbia University"The Political Ecology of Education is a revelation. By focusing our attention on the role of critical food systems pedagogy in enacting food sovereignty in the most important social movement in the world, David Meek's book offers a new and vital contribution to political ecology and agrarian studies." Bradley Wilson, West Virginia University Product Description The Political Ecology of Education examines the opportunities for and constraints on advancing food sovereignty in the 17 de Abril settlement, a community born out of a massacre of landless Brazilian workers in 1996. Based on immersive fieldwork over the course of seven years, David Meek makes the provocative argument that critical forms of food systems education are integral to agrarian social movements' survival. While the need for critical approaches is especially immediate in the Amazon, Meek's study speaks to the burgeoning attention to food systems education at various educational levels worldwide, from primary to postgraduate programs. His book calls us to rethink the politics of the possible within these pedagogies. From the Back Cover Agrarian social movements are at a crossroads. Although these movements have made significant strides in advancing the concept of food sovereignty, the reality is that many of their members remain engaged in environmentally degrading forms of agriculture, and the lands they farm are increasingly unproductive. Whether movement farmers will be able to remain living on the land, and dedicated to alternative agricultural practices, is a pressing question. The Political Ecology of Education examines the opportunities for and constraints on advancing food sovereignty in the 17 de Abril settlement, a community born out of a massacre of landless Brazilian workers in 1996. Based on immersive fieldwork over the course of seven years, David Meek makes the provocative argument that critical forms of food systems education are integral to agrarian social movements' survival. While the need for critical approaches is especially immediate in the Amazon, Meek's study speaks to the burgeoning attention to food systems education at various educational levels worldwide, from primary to postgraduate programs. His book calls us to rethink the politics of the possible within these pedagogies. About the Author David Meek is an environmental anthropologist, critical geographer, and food systems education scholar with area specializations in Brazil and India. He is assistant professor of global studies at the University of Oregon. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Chapter 1 [excerpted]It Wasn&;t Supposed to Be This Way &;We need to reflect on why we are no longer producing food,&; Isabel remarked, as she poured steaming hot coffee into an old jelly jar. Isabel is a secondary school teacher in an agrarian reform settlement of the Brazilian Landless Workers&; Movement (O Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, or MST). The MST is Latin America&;s largest agrarian social movement. MST members tactically occupy land to push the state for agrarian reform, and at the same time they are pushing the boundaries of food systems education. Isabel, like many other educators in this movement, encourages her students to critically reflect on the dominant agroindustrial system and how it structures farmers&; lives in her community. She teaches these students about sustainable agriculture, helping them design agricultural systems around ecological principles. Isabel believes these cr