Pensamiento Latinoamericano Agroecológico: the emergence of a critical Latin American agroecology?

• Published in: Agroecology and sustainable food systems Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 42 - 64
• Main Authors: Rosset, Peter M., Barbosa, Lia Pinheiro, Val, Valentín, McCune, Nils
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Taylor & Francis 02.01.2021; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Agroecology; diálogo de saberes; epistemologies; Latin America thought; Social movements; Traditions
• ISSN: 2168-3565; 2168-3573
• DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2020.1789908

Latin America is known for social movement organization and innovation, and for dialog among different types of knowledge ('dialogo de saberes'). This has included dialog between academic knowledges framed by Western science, popular and ancestral 'peoples' knowledges and wisdoms,' and so-called critical thought from global and Latin American revolutionary traditions. We postulate that a specifically Latin American agroecology has emerged from these dynamics. While the global academy recognizes that agroecology is simultaneously a science (in the Western sense), a movement, and a practice, it is the emergent Latin American version that is the most politically charged and popularly organized. This contribution uses a survey of selected Latin American agroecologists to evaluate the extent to which such a critical Latin American agroecology actually exists, and if so, what its characteristics are.