The Caívas of Southern Brazil: an example of agrarian heritage?

Abstract

The dynamics of the cultural heritage category resulted in the constitution of numerous conceptual variables over time. However, some heritage assets remained lacking identification and recognition. This was the case of agrarian heritage assets, which historically were the target of a process of marginalization, which repeatedly impacts the rural world and its protagonists. Over the last decade, this gap has been filled as a result of the proposal to constitute the category of agrarian heritage, which allows the valuation of agrarian heritage assets from the premise that agriculture is culture. More recently, the debate about this concept and its applicability has transcended European borders and reached the global South, especially the Brazilian territory, where researchers have been working on its operationalization.

This article proposes to analyze the caivas, approached as an example of agrarian heritage located in the south of Brazil. With this objective, a qualitative approach was used, marked by a broad bibliographic review on the central themes of the research, systematic document review and field trips for in loco studies of the caivas located in the previously defined territorial cut. Among the main results obtained, the identification of a wide range of agrarian heritage assets present in the context of the caivas stands out; whose maintenance of productive activity is a fundamental condition for their preservation. It is concluded that the caivas effectively configure an example of agrarian heritage and that this heritage category has relevant potential for applicability, especially in territories that seek alternative development strategies.