Living on the land and living from the land: sociabilities in the daily life of the families in the rural settlements in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul

Abstract

The thoughts presented here aim at registering what was lived in the rural settlements in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. To this end, we analyze the life-crossing process of people who demonstrated their understanding about the meanings of living on the land and living from the land. We believe that this quest starts in the settlement and it is extended beyond the arrival at the settlement since it is a never-ending crossing. It is formed and (re)formed because of a constant demand to turn this place into the arrival point. However, as life is in constant motion, families tend to follow these changes in a creative way, reviving structured sociabilities and bringing some old and new relationships and values to life. Therefore, their life stories are reconstructed within their social relationships created in the settlements with features of incompleteness. In these settlements, life is transformed, it moves with (dis)continuity, or perhaps with a stronger continuity than ever imagine. Thus, in the life-crossing process, former aspects continue to guide the family project and the new aspects are not always embedded. This article is the result of a period of qualitative research developed through participant observation, interviews and application of forms in the rural settlements in MS, since the nineties, and with some currently strong emphasis since 2005.