The organization of work and the search for autonomy of families producing artisan coalho cheese in Agreste Pernambucano

Abstract

This research addresses the processes of modernization in the countryside, asking how these means of control interfere in the production and commercialization of artisanal coalho cheese in Agreste Pernambucano. In the state of Pernambuco, it appears that, regardless of the great socioeconomic importance of artisanal coalho cheese, many family producers are, according to regulations, “clandestine” and live under constant threat of seizure, because their goods are now considered illegal. by health surveillance. The situations experienced by family producers when preparing and selling these foods were analyzed based on the contributions of theorists who have studied the peasantry for decades (brandão, 1999; Woortmann 1990), as a legitimate object of Social Sciences. Taking into account the Covid-19 pandemic context, we investigated how such social actors, especially the municipalities of São Bento and Capoeiras in their fight for autonomy, finally found that they mobilize different strategies to deal with the technical-industrializing dynamics as a means to organize their way of life, to remain in their productive activities.