Geografia da mandioca na Amazônia paraense: meio geográfico, modo de vida e a cultura da farinha no meio rural do município de Bragança (PA)

Abstract

This research aims to relate three notions - geographical environment, way of life, and flour culture. As a proposal for analysis, we seek to understand the culture of manioc flour in the Paraense Amazon linked to the way of life of the Amazonian man through processes, in a historical context. Given the singularities of the knowledge to be impregnated in a product that represents the geographies of the place, in successions and coexistences in the geographical environments of the dynamics of life of the cultural and economic relations of the municipality. From an empirical situation seen in Bragança, the culture of manioc flour envisions the production process, and the reproduction of rural communities producing flour, their insertion in the market in different media. And in the hypotheses, an intrinsic relationship between way of life and geographical environment can be verified, with cassava flour being the link in this relationship. At first, this relationship jumps from symbolic action to an appropriation of European culture, making the product a food habit in the colony, later becoming a food that was consumed in several Brazilian territories - presenting a production, commercialization and consumption circuit that was based on local aspects. Currently, the Bragança flour production and commercialization process takes place by small producers in rural areas, as well as in other municipalities in the Bragantina region. Our empirical profile is restricted to eight communities in rural areas in Bragança, in the study carried out, it was possible to observe that over the years new technologies are increasing the way of life of these communities whose logic is configured in the strategies of life reproduction of these small farmers in the case of local associations and cooperatives. We attest that there is little change in the printed space in the production method of manioc flour in the current geographical environment, even with a certain amount of technological innovation, such as electricity, different machinery in recent years, however, it has generated few benefits for rural communities. who produce the flour, because not everyone has the financial resources to have such devices on their properties. Another issue would be adding value to the product, which occurs externally to the places where production takes place. It is necessary to say that this value goes beyond the economic factor, since the notoriety of the know-how of making flour is a traditional factor that needs to be a primary part in the debates.