Peonato e agregamento: reflexos do processo colonizador e racializante no oeste catarinense (1940-1980)

Abstract

Expropriated from their land and their way of life, countless squatter families in WesternSanta Catarina had to adapt to the colonization system. The provision of agriculturalservices was one of the forms of “insertion” that these national farmers found to maintaintheir survival. This research aims to understand the dynamics of the workforce, based onthe work categories called peonato and agregamento in small and medium-sizedproperties characterized by local production for consumption and commercialization ofsurpluses (family farming) in Velho Coronel Freitas, between 1940 and 1980. Thequestion that guides the research is: In what way does the dynamics of the labor force ofnon-owners in Coronel Freitas, based on agregamento and peonato, on small andmedium-sized rural properties, manifest the colonizing and racializing system as factorsof social and agrarian structuring in the region? I propose thinking about the colonizingand racializing process as determining factors in the social division of labor between“original” settlers and national peasants. The theoretical field is anchored in agrariansocial history (Motta, 1996; Both, 2012; Mattos, 2013) from the perspective of analyzingethnic-racial relations (Bento, 2022; Della Flora, 2024). The research sources are notarial,union, judicial and oral documents. The results indicate that the presence of nationalpeasants in Velho Coronel Freitas was substantial, and that these were largely landless,and that they needed to submit their labor through peonato and agregamento, modalitiesthat generated instability and social insecurity.