Protagonismo feminino nas comunidades tradicionais de fundo de pasto frente aos empreendimentos de energia eólica

Abstract

This research aims to discuss the territorial defense strategies employed by women in traditional grazing communities in the face of conflicts arising from the insertion of wind energy projects in their traditionally occupied territory. This study will consider the communities within the area covered by the Mangabeira and Neighboring Villages Community Association (ACOMPOV), located in the municipality of Brotas de Macaúbas, in the semi-arid region of Bahia. The question this study seeks to answer is: how does the protagonism of women in traditional grazing communities manifest itself in the strategies of resistance and defense of their traditionally occupied territory in the face of the expansion of wind energy projects? It is hypothesized that they construct their own forms of resistance, articulating solidarity practices, ancestral knowledge, and political strategies of confrontation, building tactics of struggle that reaffirm the inseparability of the body, territory, and collective identity. Therefore, the overall objective is to analyze the tactics of struggle and resistance constructed by women farmers in the Fundo de Pasto communities of Brotas de Macaúbas-BA, in confronting the socio-territorial conflicts arising from renewable energy projects. The methodological choice will be guided by a qualitative lens, through participatory methodologies and dialogical processes, which allow for the discussion of research elements from an "inside-out" perspective and a unique worldview, built upon the "ground they walk on" and the cultural reality experienced daily. Based on the contributions of Barbier (2002) and Thiollent (2011), action research is adopted as the methodology, due to its capacity to articulate knowledge production with processes of social transformation. This approach allows us to understand the contexts of oppression in which women are embedded and, upon realizing these conditions, leads them to take the lead in emancipatory practices of confronting and defending their bodies and territories. In this sense, action research understands the participants as subjects who produce knowledge, capable of developing their own and collective references in the search for solutions to the challenges they experience. It is, therefore, a type of social research with a political and transformative function, oriented towards solving concrete problems and building actions that promote changes in the realities investigated. The research shows that female protagonism manifests itself in collective organization, conflict mediation, territorial surveillance, and the construction of political strategies to confront the impositions of capital. The women reaffirm the territory as a common good and a condition of collective existence, confronting wind energy projects collectively. Their acts of resistance strengthen community autonomy, showing that the defense of the territory is intrinsically linked to social justice and community rights.