Going to farmers’ market and talking

Study on the social representations given by farmers’ market vendors and consumers - Viçosa-MG

Abstract

The article analyzes the meanings attributed to farmers’ markets by sellers and consumers, under the socio-anthropological aegis. To this end, the literature review and the application of semi-structured questionnaires at the Estação Livre Farmers’ market and the Solidarity Economy and Family Agriculture Farmers’ market – Quintal Solidário (both in the municipality of Viçosa-MG) are the foundations of this work. The analysis, anchored in the Theory of Social Representations, allows mapping polysemic aspects of representations about food, economic production and sociocultural relations that are established in these spaces of hybridization in face of contemporary experiences. The study concludes that sellers and consumers attribute different economic and social interaction meanings to farmers’ markets, sometimes directed to economic issues, and sometimes to cultural exchanges made possible in this space.