Abstract

CANO CASTELLANOS, Ingreet Juliet. Interpreting “disorder”. Agricultural Change, Farm Workers and the Sembrando Vida (Planting Life) Program. Estud. sociol [online]. 2024, vol.42, e2362.  Epub May 24, 2024. ISSN 2448-6442.  https://doi.org/10.24201/es.2024v42.e2362.

The study of contemporary ruralities tends to be accompanied by the image of the peasantry on the verge of disappearing. To counteract this trend, I seek to analyze the current panorama as the transition between a ‘disordered’ past and a ‘disordered’ present, challenging the inclination to regard peasants as the opposite of capital and the state. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in towns in southeastern Chiapas, I also show what the Sembrando Vida program contributes to rural experiences. Using a procedural perspective, I reflect on the classic questions in rural studies: Who are peasants? Are we witnessing the end of the peasantry in the agrarian capitalism of the 21st century?

Keywords : agrarian change; peasants; capitalism; Sembrando Vida; rural policy.