Abstract
This article proposes a typology of the appropriation of Brazilian Cerrado lands as a resource—ranging from subsistence for local peoples, to the current attempt by institutional investors to transform the land into a financial asset—without disregarding its use as a source of power and accumulation by large capitalist farmers. A resource is considered as any product of a relationship mediated by appropriation of a specific natural material by a particular agent. Until 1970s, Cerrado lands were used almost exclusively as a means of subsistence by peasants and indigenous populations. Since then, under a violent expropriation process, land has become a resource for capitalist accumulation and patrimonialist power for large-scale immigrant farmers, with the expansion of the agricultural frontier. Within the context of land grabbing in the 21st century, the arrival of representatives of international financial capital has added to the complexity of the appropriation strategies in which Cerrado lands are considered financial assets. These different perspectives of using land as a resource has increased the number of conflicts and contradictions, with profound negative effects on peasant communities in agricultural frontier areas.
Highlights
This article analyzes the different forms of appropriation of Brazilian Cerrado lands as a resource—ranging from subsistence use by the local population, to the current attempt by investors to transform the land into a financial asset—without disregarding its strategic use as a source of power and accumulation for large capitalist producers
This analysis takes the perspective proposed by Raffestin (1980), in which a natural material, in this case the Cerrado lands, has been transformed over the last few decades into a strategic resource for large producers and, more recently, for financial investors
In general, until the 1970’s, Cerrado areas have been occupied by indigenous groups and “quilombolas”, as well as by migrants from the mining cycles and state occupation policies and by workers from former farms who become "posseiros", without disregarding the presence of the old cattle ranch elite
Summary
De la subsistencia a los activos financieros: apropiación como recurso de tierras del Cerrado brasileño. Este artículo propone una tipología de la apropiación de las tierras del Cerrado brasileño como recurso, desde subsistencia para los pueblos locales, hasta el intento actual de su transformación por los inversores institucionales en un activo financiero, sin dejar de lado su uso como fuente de poder y acumulación por parte de Los grandes agricultores capitalistas. Hasta la década de 1970, las tierras del Cerrado fueron utilizadas casi exclusivamente como medio de subsistencia por los campesinos y las poblaciones indígenas. Bajo un violento proceso de expropiación, la tierra se ha convertido en un recurso para la acumulación capitalista y para el poder patrimonialista para los grandes agricultores inmigrantes, con la expansión de la frontera agrícola.
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