O Campo-Cidade-Campo Representado no Assentamento Dom Tomás Balduíno

Abstract

AThe trajectory of agricultural modernization and the implementation process in rural regions in Brazil through different forms of expropriation and expulsion of many agricultural workers, who, as consequence, have lost their homes and their livelihoods, depicts these people, at every moment, as common people. They are defined through their rural identities, but there is also evidence of disruption due to the migration to urban areas, subject to the conditions imposed by a pre-existing reality and its particular rules, indicating that the social and cultural contexts needed to be rethought and restructured. People living in urban areas may face specific challenges and they need to be persistent in their own job searching, which is marked by employment instability and precariousness, as a consequence of the accelerated development of industrial sector that does not meet the needs of the people who migrated to seek employment within this sector. Therefore, confront the reality of Dom Tomas Baldwin Settlement of Agrarian Reform, located in the surrounding area, in Franco da Rocha town (SP), which is embedded within a system characterized by housing homeless that were on the streets of Sao Paulo metropolitan areas. The work was carried out in 2006 and 2007, through individual interviews at settlement plots, with the aim of verifying conditions and knowledge regarding land cultivation, how settlers used land, as well as the methods they adopted to grow food to ensure their livelihood security. Thus, the interpretation offered here depicts the citizen as a settled worker, identified by the various influences on the process of identity construction, including the stages experienced before, during, and after becoming an integral part of the community within a rural settlement. Keywords: Identity; Migration; Family Agriculture; Rural Settlements.