Alternativities within a rural and socio-environmental framework: theoretical approaches and perspectives

Abstract

The present article is the result of an academic interdisciplinary work done by researchers from the XII group of doctoral students from the Postgraduate Program in Environment and Development at the Federal University of Paraná (PPGMADE-UFPR). By means of a systematic review and by using bibliometric research tools, followed by qualitative analyses, the purpose of this collective effort was to contribute towards the construction of knowledge for the theoretical deepening and basis of empirical works related to the theme "alternativities”, thereby seeking to identify gaps and research opportunities. The analyses indicate that a special emphasis is given to research on this subject in the areas of environmental sciences and sociology, and that there is also a field of scientific production under construction that involves this issue, especially those linked to the studies of Boaventura de Sousa Santos. When reflecting on the specificities of rural alternativities, as analyzed from the five ecologies proposed by Sousa Santos, this study makes it possible to use an epistemological approach based on the perspective of absent and emergent experiences. It is concluded that there is a comprehensive field of research for the use of the term, and that alternativities in rurality are closely linked to an epistemological option that, through the experiences and narratives of those who are absent and emergent, has sought to understand how rural social actors produce new experiences based on the tension that exists with hegemonic modernity-coloniality.