Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76

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Journal of Rural Studies

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~o, Brazil
Social roots of resource use routes in rural Maranha
Roberto Porro a, *, Noemi Sakiara Miyasaka Porro b
a
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, Embrapa Eastern Amazon, Travessa Dr. En
eas Pinheiro s/n, Bel  66095-100, Brazil
em, Para
b , Brazil
Federal University of Para

a b s t r a c t
Keywords: The examination of social and ecological trajectories in two smallholder communities that experienced
Maranha ~o
land conflicts in the 1980s provides empirical evidences for the formulation of a grounded political
Peasant communities
ecology of peasant resource use in Brazil's Mid-North. The approach is used to progressively track factors
Political ecology
Kinship networks
triggering different decisions, livelihood strategies and contrasting social relations. Today's discrepancies
Land-use trajectories in land-use trajectories and social life were traced back to attitudes and the agency of local residents as
they confronted socio-structural and ecological opportunities and constraints in the past. The cases re-
flected the contrast between a background of hierarchical, subordinated relations, and a more egalitarian
social structure. Cooperation and agreement or discord and individual orientation resulted from social
dynamics that marked the communities since land occupation in the 1920s. Kinship networks featured in
one case enhanced collective action and welfare, while the lack of institutions regulating resource-use in
the other case failed to establish a sustainable system.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction comprise more than 8% of the Brazilian rural population (IBGE,

In this paper we aim to contribute to anthropological ap-
proaches for the understanding of humaneenvironmental in-
teractions in peasant societies. We present a grounded political
ecology (GPE) approach to assess contrasting resource allocation
decisions observed in communities of peasant farmers in Brazil and
their respective land use outcomes. The approach identifies inter-
connected facts that contribute to social and landscape trajectories,
while arguing that resource use dynamics integrate temporal,
spatial, and organizationally specific choices by social groups
reacting to historical processes that interactively reshape their
structural constraints.
The study was conducted in the middle Mearim river valley,
center of Maranh~ ao state, located in the Brazilian Northeast region.
The study area in fact belongs to a transition zone between the dry
Northeast and the Amazon rainforest, referred as Brazil's Mid-
North. Ecologically, landscapes in central Maranh~ ao are predomi-
nantly covered with palm-dominated secondary forests and
palmepasture associations. Maranha ~o is the state with the largest
rural population share in Brazil: 38% in 2010, as opposed to a na-
tional average of 16%. The 2.5 million rural inhabitants in the state
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ55 (91) 3204 1129.
E-mail addresses: roberto.porro@embrapa.br, porro.roberto@gmail.com
(R. Porro), noemi@ufpa.br (N.S.M. Porro).
2010). Presenting a demographic density of near 20 inhabitants/
km2, Maranha ~o's social exclusion, poverty, unemployment, and
social inequalities remain among the highest in Brazil (Campos
et al., 2003; PNUD et al., 2013; SUDAM, 2012). Moreover, large
portions of frontier farmers, gold prospectors and landless families
that still migrate to the Amazon region and generate significant
social and environmental impacts are either originally from
Maranha ~o, or settled there for significant periods of their lives
(Hoefle, 2013). As the presence of migrants from Maranha ~o has
been combined with the significant expansion of palm-dominated
landscapes further west in the Amazon, a detailed understanding of
the social and environmental transformations occurred in the state
is likely to offer important contributions to policies targeting sus-
tainable land and resource use pathways in broader and wider
contexts.
The two communities focused on by this study offer an allegory
for the formulation of a grounded political ecology of peasant
resource use in Brazil's Mid-North. Both communities were estab-
lished in the 1920s within the same municipality in the Mearim
river valley. These farmers engaged in acute land struggles with
ranchers in the mid-1980s, when they recovered resource access
and tenure. Despite apparent sociocultural and ecological similar-
ities, these communities developed rather distinct land allocation
trajectories since tenure recovery. Outeiro, the first community,
features a balanced association of palms, pastures, and planned
swidden fields in more limited areas, while unmanaged slash-and-

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.06.009
0743-0167/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76
burn shifting cultivation of annual crops prevails in Ibiapa, the
second community. In order to understand the fundamental rea-
sons for such discrepancy, we examined the communities' internal
relations, social positioning and cohesion over extended periods.
Our main contention is that present-day humaneenvironment in-
teractions and resource allocation decisions in each context can be
explained through a detailed understanding of the differential re-
sponses observed in each community to critical processes
throughout their respective long-term social and ecological
trajectories.
Following this introduction, we present the methods employed
in the study and characterize the research sites. Next, we situate the
study within the fields of Anthropology used to explain resource
use trajectories, and argue for the validity of a grounded political
ecology approach. Subsequently, we use the approach to portray
the different land and resource use trajectories in the two com-
munities. We then contextualize their distinct patterns of social
cohesion, first in terms of the differential expression of violence,
and then on the contrasting role assumed by kinship and social
networks. In the following discussion we argue that different tra-
jectories are a consequence of critical social processes that took
place during communities' key historical moments. We conclude
the paper by emphasizing the evidences presented through the
study of the connections between socio-structural and political-
ecological dimensions of resource use dynamics.
2. Methods
This study was initially informed by near a decade in which we
worked as a development practitioners and lived close to peasant
communities in the state of Maranh~ ao, when we witnessed first-
hand these communities' struggle to cope with restrictions to ac-
cess resources. It also benefitted from subsequent visits and
anthropological fieldwork while both of us conducted doctoral
research. The study thus examined community features in a period
starting with intense land struggles of the mid-1980s and ending
with the post-conflict of the early 2000s. The research was based on
ethnographic methods including participant observation, open-
ended, semi-structured and interactive interviews focusing on life
histories and community social trajectories. The methodology also
included the gathering of spatial data on land-use and land-cover,
and a socioeconomic survey with all 237 households of the two
communities.
We examined social interactions within community members
through long-term ethnographic observation, and also through
action research, since we continue to collaborate with local grass-
roots organizations to the present day. Among such interactions,
we clearly detected the differential occurrence of violence, which
served as an indicator of the level of community stress and conflict.
Detailed interviews with key informants served to generate
comprehensive genealogies of the two communities. The resulting
kinship networks were used to study the relevance of kindred
groups and their association with community cohesion. We then
traced the communities' historical trajectories and compared them
through the analysis of local narratives. These narratives provided
robust evidence of contrasting resource management practices and
social interactions. To preserve identities, we used aliases for the
communities, families, and individuals named in this paper.
3. Research sites
The communities of Ibiapa and Outeiro are located in Lago do
Junco, a municipality in the Mearim valley, with 310 km2 and a 2010
population density of 35 inhabitants per km2 (Fig. 1). Topography
throughout the region is flat to slightly rolling, with elevations
65
reaching no more than 150 m above sea level. Local climate features
a dry season of 5e6 months (June to November), each with less
than four inches of rain. Monthly average temperatures range from
24 to 29  C, and annual rainfall from 40 to 60 inches, allowing rain-
fed cropping. Soils are mostly of medium fertility, mainly oxisols,
ultisols, and alfisols. Yet, according to agronomic classifications,
upland soils in the region are inappropriate for agriculture unless
conservation practices are used, which seldom occurs.
Lago do Junco's vegetation corresponds to the terrestrial eco-
region of Maranha ~o Babassu Forests (WWF, 2002). The babassu
palm (Attalea speciosa Mart. ex Spreng) grows sparsely in primary
forests but proliferates after land clearing, constituting a clear
example of Amazonian oligarchic forests (Peters, 1992). Forests
dominated by babassu are included in the tropical moist broadleaf
forests biome. They are characterized as a transition zone with
floristic components of the moist evergreen forests of the Amazon
basin, the woodlands and scrub savannas of Brazil's central plateau,
and caatingas, the dry vegetation of Northeastern Serta ~o. Species-
rich moist deciduous forests were originally featured in the area.
Given long-term anthropogenic activity, they almost no longer exist
in the entire Mearim valley. In Lago do Junco, occupation by peasant
farmers began in the 1920s and affected the whole municipality as
early as the 1970s. Farmers altered the original habitat through
frequent cutting and burning events for annual cropping, on lands
that were later partially converted to pasture by ranchers. Small
remaining fragments of mature forests or species-rich secondary
forests are found only on the hilltops in less accessible terrain.
Gallery forests, wet savannas, and seasonally flooded grasslands
occur at the edges of rivers and waterways.
Rural dwellers in the Mearim valley are predominantly agro-
extractive, shifting cultivator smallholders deriving their liveli-
hoods predominantly from rice, cassava, and the extraction of
products from the babassu palm. Undoubtedly, however, in the last
two decades the economy of these households and communities
increasingly relies on retirement benefits, Bolsa Família, the federal
government family support program, and other social transfers.
According to the last Brazilian agricultural census, some 175,000
landholdings in Maranha ~o feature shifting cultivation, while in
40,000 there is extraction of babassu fruits (IBGE, 2009). In addition
to multiple products used in local livelihoods, the extraction and
sale of babassu kernels provides cash income to peasant house-
holds since the early 20th century (Amaral-Filho, 1990). Babassu
has been described as “tree of life” (Anderson and Anderson, 1985)
or “subsidy from nature” (Anderson et al., 1991; Hecht et al., 1988),
while dispute over access to babassu groves was referred to as the
“tragedy of non-commons” (May, 1990, 1986). Such phrases convey
babassu's importance to the livelihoods and social reproduction of
one of the largest peasantries in Brazil.
The Mearim valley is indeed located at the core of the so-called
“babassu zone,” and experienced significant changes in resource
use since the early 20th century. Predominant landscapes changed
from species-rich mature forests to babassu-dominated secondary
succession, to pasture or croplands containing palms at various
densities (R. Porro, 2002). Intense land struggles between ranchers
and peasant communities marked the conversion of palm forests
to pastures in the 1970s and 1980s. This conversion was stimu-
lated by Maranha ~o State “Land Law” (Lei de Terras), approved in
1969, while the state governor was Jose  Sarney (the first civilian to
become Brazil's president after the military government, and
bastion of the oligarchy that holds power in the state for more
than half a century). The 1969 law provoked the actual incorpo-
ration of Maranh~ ao lands into the market, and disregarded
peasant tenure rights.
Combined with the support to large-scale enterprises provided
by Brazil's military regime, the 1969 law transformed social
66 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76
~o, Mearim Valley and Lago do Junco.
Fig. 1. Maranha
relations and relations of production in rural Maranha ~o. In the
1970s, Brazil's Agencies for the Development of the Amazon
(SUDAM) and Northeast (SUDENE) channeled subsidized credit
and fiscal incentives to ranchers that fomented a massive process
of pasture conversion to replace rice fields and fallowed lands. In
Maranha ~o, 77 subsidized livestock projects were implemented in
more than one million hectares (Amaral-Filho, 1990:233). Be-
tween 1975 and 1985 the area converted to pasture more than
doubled in the state, from 12,182 km2 to 27,903 km2, and cattle
herd jumped from 1.8 million to 3.2 million. In that period, rice
production, mostly a smallholder activity, decreased 15% (IBGE,
1979, 1990).
Processes of internal differentiation among peasants, which had
started in the late 1960s, and the subsequent arrival of outside
ranchers in Lago do Junco sharply increased land concentration. By
the mid-1980s, 80% of the municipality's smallholdings occupied
just 6% of the land, contrasting with the almost 50% taken by the 36
largest ranches (IBGE, 1998). Facing exclusion, an active peasant
social movement engaged in struggles that resulted in significant
land recovery. Starting in the mid 1980s and supported by the
Catholic Church (Lo € her, 2009), these communities skillfully har-
nessed collective action to access land rights through the then-
recently established Land Reform National Plan (da Silva, 1985).
In Lago do Junco, 460 families recovered 18 areas totaling some
6000 ha (R. Porro, 2002:30). Following violent conflicts with cattle
ranchers, Ibiapa and Outeiro were among the first communities to
recover land tenure. Before we present their differential resource
use and social routes, in the next session we situate the study
within fields of Anthropology that are relevant in the examination
of smallholders' socialeecological trajectories.
4. Anthropological approaches to explain contrasting
resource use routes
A number of anthropological approaches contribute to the un-
derstanding of interactions between society and nature (eg.: Bale e,
2006; Crumley, 1994; Headland, 1997; Ingold, 1986, 2000; Little,
1999; Moran, 1990; Oliver-Smith, 1996; Scoones, 1999; Vayda and
Walters, 1999). Synergies between structuralist and historical per-
spectives can be found in studies focusing on social formations of
indigenous or traditional communities and the ecological diversity
of their biophysical environments in Brazil (Albert, 2002; Castro,
1996; Cunha and Almeida, 2000; Descola, 1996). In contexts of
Amazon's peasantry (Adams et al., 2008; Almeida, 1993; Nugent,
2002; Ross, 1978), the often noted polarization between
environmentally-sound practices of riverine peasants and tradi-
tional communities, and the productivist logic assigned to frontier
farmers, prevents due recognition to complex relationships and
adaptive processes related to resource use. Such complexity can be
observed, for example, in studies of cattle ranching by residents of
extractive reserves in Acre (Gomes et al., 2011; Pantoja et al., 2010;
Vadjunec et al., 2009), and in Maranha ~o state itself (Porro and
Porro, 2014; Porro et al., 2004).
Despite disputing academic precedence, three anthropological
research approaches relevant to understand socio-environmental
interactions complement their strengths and gain in validity and
robustness when integrated. One of the approaches, event ecology
(Vayda, 2009; Vayda and Walters, 2011; Walters et al., 2009), em-
phasizes causal explanations for human action and environmental
change. The second approach revisits the diversity of multiple
contributions associated to the field of political ecology (PE)
 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76
(Biersack, 2006; Robbins, 2012; Rocheleau, 2008). The third
approach, ecology of practice (Nyerges, 1997, 1993, 1992) appraises
individual agency as directly involved in the generation of practices
that result in competition, control, and exploitation of resources.
According to the ecology of practice, conflicts emerging over access
to and control of resources are incorporated into individual social
lives, and alter resource use.
A contention between the first two approaches can be traced as
a reaction to the initial wave of PE's influential investigations that
refused the adaptationist paradigm of cultural ecology. Political
ecologists argued that human actions at the local level are inte-
grated within wider political and economic processes that impact
social and biophysical environments (Blaikie, 1985; Blaikie and
Brookfield, 1987; Fairhead and Leach, 1995; Hecht and Cockburn,
2011; Little and Horowitz, 1987; Peet and Watts, 1996; Peluso,
1992; Redclift, 1987; Schmink and Wood, 1987; Stonich, 1993).
Critiques to early political ecological work, by their turn, emphasize
the deterministic role given to wider politicaleeconomic factors to
environmental degradation, resulting in insufficient attention to
the nature of the event in question, and the disregard to interactive
factors leading to it.
Vayda and Walters challenged the attribution of ecological la-
bels to what they interpreted as studies on the political control or
political contest over natural resources. Their event ecology
formulation has “a focus on the environmental events or changes
that we want to explain and then … construct chains of causes and
effects leading to those events and changes” (1999:169). Event
ecology draws on Vayda's previous formulation of progressive
contextualization, inspired by the rationality premise that explains
peopleeenvironment interactions through the examination of
“specific activities … performed by specific people in specific places
at specific times”, and by an investigation of causes and conse-
quences of these activities (Vayda, 1983:266). Event ecology,
however, overrates the role of individual rationality and decision-
making models in the identification of adaptive mechanisms, and
underestimates structural constraints. Human agency goes beyond
adaptive behavior discerned by rational choice, and e as argued by
Jansen e comprises “the inherent capacity of resource-users to
dynamically assimilate and/or transform causation effects of mul-
tiple social structures” (Jansen, 1998:21). On the other hand, PE's
turn back to ecology and its combination of structure and agency
addresses the perennial issues of development and conservation,
taking into consideration “questions of cultural survival, gender
equality and political autonomy through analyses increasingly
made with and for social movements and their constituencies”
(Rocheleau, 2008: 721).
Preexisting social relationships, hierarchies, and agency are
central aspects of practice theory (Bourdieu, 1977), which empha-
sizes social and cultural contexts as both medium for and outcome
of the reproduction of practices by individual actors (Nyerges,
1997:8). The ecology of practice is based on anthropological deri-
vations of actor centered and practice models of human action
(Orlove, 1980; Ortner, 1984; Vayda, 1986). The approach relates the
position of individuals in local social hierarchies to the culturally
constructed mechanisms and productive activities adopted to
exploit natural resources (Nyerges, 1996:123, 1997:7e10). Ecology
of practice assumes that management strategies within hierarchi-
cal systems are shaped by heavily institutionalized social asym-
metries resulting in the incorporation of ecological adaptation into
social interactions and practices (Nyerges, 1997:9e10).
The formulation of a grounded political ecology (GPE) draws on
the ecology of practice and on grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss,
2009; Strauss and Corbin, 1997) to explain mechanisms through
which resource managers respond to local socio-structural condi-
tions. GPE, however, expands the focus of the analysis to levels
67
other than the very local. It is guided by a problem-centered
approach and combines domains of explanation capturing the
temporal and spatial cross-scale dynamics involved in socio-
environmental transformations. The approach therefore in-
tegrates socio-cultural and political-ecological dimensions of
resource dynamics and land use change that result from choices
made by resource-users operating within structural constraints.
The progressive contextualization of factors leading to differential
use of resources serves then to the purpose of identifying the social
roots of resource use transformations, and the expression and
motivations for diverse routes. In the remainder of this paper I use
grounded political ecology as a framework to examine the inter-
twined roots and routes (Clifford, 1997) of resource use and social
life in Ibiapa and Outeiro.
5. Contrasting resource use and social routes in the Mearim
valley
Ibiapa and Outeiro present many similarities. Both communities
were formed in the 1920s. Initial settlers and those who subse-
quently arrived have similar ethnic backgrounds, with migrants
from the Northeastern Serta ~o forming the so-called centros, villages
that either integrated or prevailed upon families of indigenous and
African descent. From the establishment of the villages and up to
the late 1950s, the formation and development of a peasant society
in frontier settings characterized both communities. Ibiapa and
Outeiro also experienced subsequent periods of economic differ-
entiation (late 1950s to late 1970s) and social stratification (late
1970s to late 1980s) (Porro, 2005). Residents of both communities
were oppressed to the point of revolt against better-off ranchers,
and in both places peasants struggled for their tenure rights. During
the peak of the land struggles, local livelihoods depended upon
services and products obtained from babassu: slash-and-burn
agriculture on lands covered with palms provided enough
biomass for reasonable harvests, and the extraction of fruits, car-
ried out predominantly by women and children, provided cash
through the sale of kernels, as well as the charcoal needed for
cooking (N. Porro, 2002; R. Porro, 2002, 2005).
After the conflicts, land reform settlement projects were
installed in the late 1980s, renewing institutional arrangements
within communities and between them and public agencies. Set-
tlement actions were enforced in Ibiapa through INCRA, the federal
agency, while in Outeiro the actions were implemented by ITERMA,
the state-level land agency. Ibiapa and Outeiro are also geograph-
ically close to each other. Shared biophysical attributes are attested
by less than 10 km separating the communities. Being in the same
municipality, they are exposed to the same formal governance.
Upland rice shifting cultivation, babassu extraction, and ranching
are carried out using similar technologies, on soils of similar
fertility. Yet, there are substantial differences in land and resource
use between these communities. Prior to present these differences,
we briefly describe predominant farming systems in the Mearim
valley.
5.1. Peasant fields, palms and pastures in the Mearim valley
Roça is the most common term for swidden fields in North and
Northeast Brazil. In the Mearim valley, roças are a predominantly
male driven activity, cultivated with rice (the main staple), maize,
cassava, and beans, individually or in different combinations of
intercropping. Portions of a roça are occasionally planted with small
quantities of other intercropped vegetables such as squash, okra, or
watermelon. Producers endowed with enough resources establish
rain-fed roças on both upland and lowland areas, thereby reducing
their risk of crop failure. Rice production in upland sites is risky in
68 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76
years of lower rainfall, while lowland sites are susceptible to losses
in years of high rainfall and floods. Provided that at least 5e6 years
are elapsed before cropping in the same plot, the biomass produced
by slashing babassu leaves allows reasonable rice harvests. This
period is smaller than the eight years suggested by Boserup (1965)
to maintain soil fertility when slash-and-burn is practiced in the
tropics, and thus justifies the designation of “subsidy from nature”
(Anderson et al., 1991). Yet, concentration of land ownership and
the scarcity of land for smallholder farming reduced swidden cycles
in most of the region down to 3e4 years, prompting decreasing
yields and challenging livelihoods and ecosystem integrity.
Land clearing begins in JuneeJuly. Operations include slashing
and lopping the under-story with a sickle (broque), tree felling
using an ax or machete (derruba), and the trimming of palm leaves
(desbandeirar). After the vegetation dries, fire is set in September or
October. To clear land for cropping, trunks and twigs not consumed
by fire are then piled (coivara) and re-burnt. Planting starts with
reliable rains, usually in DecembereJanuary. Weeding is the most
labor demanding activity in short fallowed areas. Harvesting is the
greater burden at fertile, long-fallow fields. No fertilizers are used,
and insecticides are seldom applied. Since the 1980s, herbicides are
increasingly sprayed on sites infested with grass, mainly in lowland
areas. The harvest of rice starts in April and extends to June in
wetland areas. Maize is harvested in June/July. If household labor is
insufficient for the timely harvest of large fields, laborers are paid
by productivity, receiving one third of what they harvest, or cash
equivalents. Rice is harvested with a small blade adjusted to the
palm of one's hand. Rice bunches are cut individually. Grains are
first stored on the sheaf in a temporary shelter in the field. Once
dried, rice is manually threshed and finally carried to a permanent
storage inside or near the house.
Cassava stays longer in the field, and therefore is treated as a
safety crop for the provision of food or cash when rice supplies are
small. Cassava is less demanding on soil fertility, and is therefore
more adjusted to limited resources. Farinhada, or the making of
manioc flour, occurs on a year-round basis. It involves the entire
household, and sometimes even extra labor is required. Roots
directly peeled and crushed produce a dryer, whiter kind of flour
(farinha seca). Roots immersed for 2e3 days in a water tank or
stream produce a more sour, larger-granulated, and yellowish flour
(farinha d'a gua). Beans are preferably cultivated at the end of the
rainy season, when moisture is reduced. Sites with enough biomass
are best for a slash-and-mulch system for beans (feija ~o abafado),
and neither fire nor weeding is required. In areas of less-developed
vegetation, beans are cropped under bush-fallow, or in labor-
demanding mounds.
In contrast to babassu extraction and swidden fields, cattle
ranching had limited presence in the Mearim valley up to the 1960s.
However, except in quilombos (remnant runaway-slave commu-
nities), little land in the region was left as forest fallow, and pastures
surround most peasant villages since the late 1970s. Ranchers often
eliminate palms and sow grasses of the Brachiaria genus.
Conversely, most of the traditional, resource limited farmers and
peasants who raise cattle, still rely on management systems that
include jaragua  grass (Hyperrhanya rufa), maintaining moderate to
large densities of palms. When their density is not excessive, the
upper layer of adult palms is said to improve microclimatic con-
ditions for raising livestock. Yet, because babassu is perceived as a
symbol of peasant resistance and struggle, well-off ranchers elim-
inate or substantially reduce babassu stands.
As a consequence of the “ideologization” of land-use strategies,
the otherwise symbiotic interactions between pastures and palms,
and between ranching and babassu extraction, turned out to be the
source of social conflict. Once conflicts are resolved, peasant
farmers with access to land increasingly integrate ranching into
their livelihood. When pastures are established, the elimination of
juvenile babassu sprouts is the most labor-demanding task.
Optimal management requires three cleanings per year, but most
pastures receive only one at the outset of the rainy season. Fire is at
times used to control weeds and reinvigorate grass, but burnings
are not as ubiquitous as those used for cropping.
5.2. Resource use trajectories in Ibiapa and Outeiro
The “forest transition model” (FT) (Mather and Needle, 2005)
suggests a learning process for farmers resulting in the concen-
tration of agricultural production in smaller areas of better land,
and abandonment of larger areas of poorer land for agriculture.
Critics of the FT highlight the role of social context and reject the
model's simplifying assumptions with evidence from multiple case
studies showing no effect or increased deforestation following
either agricultural intensification or rural population decline
(Perfecto and Vandermeer, 2010). On a local level, empirical studies
suggest that as long as certain conditions are maintained, intensive
and extensive land-use systems coexist in time and space as
smallholders minimize risk, supply their families with basic needs,
and have access to markets (e.g., Futemma and Brondizio, 2003;
Zimmerer, 2013). As argued by Angelsen and Kaimowitz (2001),
the environmental effect of agricultural technology is context-
specific, shaped by sociopolitical forces and mediated by the in-
stitutions in place. This can be observed when examining the
different forms in which peasant swidden fields, babassu palms and
planted pastures are integrated in the land use systems practiced by
peasant farmers in the two communities.
A balanced association of palms, pastures, and swidden fields,
and therefore an agro-pastoral-extractive economy, prevails in
Outeiro. Land use in the post-conflict of Ibiapa has been almost
exclusively represented by unmanaged slash-and-burn shifting
cultivation. The latter lacks planned agricultural initiatives and
internal regulation mechanisms, such as multiple field aggrega-
tions and maximum field size limitation. These measures e adop-
ted in Outeiro e favored greater dominance of babassu palms in the
landscape. In a period of critical need for products and income
provided by the palm, the maintenance of babassu in the landscape
strengthened local livelihoods.
The examination of landscape patterns in Lago do Junco allows
the distinction among four major classes of land cover: (a) open
pastures, cleared of babassu palms; (b) palmepasture associations;
(c) shifting cultivation (comprised by annual crops and fallowed
fields); and (d) advanced forest succession. Furthermore, a study of
landscape patterns in the two communities identified four major
patterns of land use/land cover change between 1986 (pre-conflict)
and 2002 (post-conflict): (1) open pasture decreased in both, but at
a higher rate in Ibiapa; (2) palm/pasture associations decreased in
Ibiapa but did not change in Outeiro; (3) shifting cultivation land
had a substantial increase in Ibiapa, but decreased in Outeiro; and
(4) advanced forest succession increased in both, but at a higher
rate in Ibiapa (for detailed spatial analysis, see R. Porro, 2002,
Chapter 5). While Ibiapa's families have access to almost twice as
much land on a per capita basis (Table 1) and count on a larger area
of advanced forest succession, ethnographic observation during
extensive fieldwork attests that long-term resource use planning is
better executed and enforced in Outeiro.
Greater land availability can partially explain lower propensity
of Ibiapa's residents toward agricultural intensification and
resource use planning. Yet, household welfare trends in both
communities suggest that social and institutional factors should
also be accounted for in the analysis of resource-use dynamics.
Table 2 shows that socioeconomic indicators in Ibiapa are consid-
erably worse than those in Outeiro, attesting that greater natural
 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76 69

Table 1 Land use trajectories in Ibiapa and Outeiro thus suggest the
Land tenure status of resource-users in Ibiapa and Outeiro, 2002. differential expression of agency and collective action related to
Farmers' land tenure status Outeiro Ibiapa Total resource use. Decisions and practices in each community resulted
hholds ha hholds ha hholds ha
in distinctive land-cover outcomes. In particular, such distinctions
comprised smallholders' option to manage pastures encountered
Settlement common land 470 2024 2494
after tenure recovery, or reconvert them into secondary forests and
Farmers only on common land 21 75 96
Farmers with additional 10 142 2 43 12 185 use the land for shifting cultivation. Examining practices and dis-
private land courses connected to each trajectory provided evidences that,
Sub-total “land reform” farmers 31 612 77 2067 108 2679 despite similarities, diverse socialeecological configurations were
26% 65% 46%
at place in the two communities.
Private land
Small (1e20 ha) 16 138 7 74 23 212
Medium (20.1e200 ha) 8 481 6 618 14 1099 5.3. The differential expression of community cooperation, discord
Large (>200 ha) 1 209 e e 1 209 and violence
Sub-total “private land” farmers 25 828 13 692 38 1520
21% 11% 16%
Longitudinal observations in the two communities throughout
Sub-total “landless” farmers 62 29 91
53% 24% 38% more than two decades allowed us to grasp different social pro-
Total 118 1440 119 2759 237 4199 cesses taking place in each one. Cooperation and collective action
Average land availability 12.2 23.4 17.7 noted in Outeiro contrast with the discord and instability that
(ha/hhold)
pervade social relations in Ibiapa. Outeiro has a self-image and is
Source: Lago do Junco's socioeconomic survey (R. Porro, 2002). viewed by neighboring villagers and outsiders (such as NGOs and
the Catholic Church) as a community with institutions able to
consolidate alliances enhancing residents' welfare. Local leadership
resource endowments in the former were not translated into played a central role in guiding community members to assimilate
wellbeing. development projects and incorporate the sustainable develop-
The imprint of socio-cultural and institutional features of both ment discourse, while translating it in their own terms. Community
communities on their resource-use trajectories, and, ultimately, on leaders successfully transferred to the peaceful post-conflict period
the landscapes that result from these practices is observed through abilities they had acquired in the violent process of recovering
land use planning and management. To sum up, Ibiapa's overall tenure rights. Outeiro was a reference to other groups that later
economy relies on the cultivation of annual fields carried out in an pursued similar trajectories. Internal struggles did occur, but had
overly individualistic manner, with limited development of the scant interference in the collective management of resource-use.
social capital required to improve resource-allocation. While the A different trajectory took place in Ibiapa, where land struggle
engagement of Ibiapa settlers in ranching is occasional for the was followed by post-conflict episodes that exacerbated internal
majority, a small number of producers enclosed common land for disparities. Social relations became irreconcilable with proper
private use. In doing so, they reproduce processes of economic common resource management, as frictions involved leadership
differentiation of the past. Facing an indifferent majority, these disputes over prestige and material conditions. Conflict resolution
individuals who hold power take advantage of common goods and within the group resembled armed clashes during past confronta-
assets, appropriating resources for private benefit. tions against outsiders. Incompetence, suspicion and betrayal were
Conversely, Outeiro featured a gradual improvement in land-use terms frequently attributed by outsiders and by local social move-
planning. Formal and informal rules have been developed and ments to Ibiapa villagers portrayed by images of violence, distrust,
enforced by families themselves, and their more limited resources and lack of managerial skills. According to community organization
were optimized over the years. Portions of the common lands were and participatory development viewpoints, the post-struggle tra-
set apart and managed as collective pastures, while the remaining jectory in Ibiapa was a failure.
area was split between fallow and agriculture. Systematic practices Ibiapa's social fabric is still loaded with tension and discord, and
to choose, demarcate, and burn continuous land tracts for crops imposes heavy burdens to common initiatives. Structural features
have been carried out in a spirit of cooperation and by agreement, observed in Ibiapa fit the pattern of socially disorganized commu-
reducing losses and the accidental spread of fire. These practices nities (Sampson and Groves, 1989; Shaw and McKay, 1942). Con-
optimized resource use, and labor and land allocated to Outeiro's tested internal relations in these communities interfere with their
smaller fields was more productive than in Ibiapa. Several Outeiro ability to exert informal control over behavior (Bouffard and Muftic,
families diverted economic gains to expand their productive basis 2006). In rural settings, social disorganization not only prevents
by purchasing livestock and acquiring nearby smallholdings. In the control over human behavior, but also informs practices likely to
late 1990s Outeiro families established partnerships that resulted in undermine the integrity of the environment (Agrawal and Gibson,
the formation of a 5the8th grade agricultural school fostering ag- 2001).
roecological practices. Local institutions regulating access to common goods and
Ranching has been integrated with crops and babassu extraction resource use in Ibiapa failed to establish rules for a sustainable and
by a larger number of Outeiro families, and it is no longer viewed as a equitable system. We observed that clearing and cropping on the
taboo or as a symbol of adherence to the former oppressive landlord. community's settlement land was often done at the will of in-
A collective herd is owned by the local association for more than two dividuals, resulting in frequent disputes within the group. While
decades, and has been used both as a source of income for local in- the community's greater availability of land and resources can be
vestments, and for periodical redistribution. As for private herds, considered a strong factor for lower efficiency in overall land-use
when families reach an agreed limit for the use of common pastures, planning, internal discord and inability to provide proper gover-
cattle are taken to adjacent, private smallholdings. Practices for nance has also hindered enhanced resource-management.
pasture and herd management indicate that livestock was incorpo- Conversely, resource use optimization in Outeiro can be attrib-
rated into the productive system. Moreover, the maintenance of uted to community's internal cohesion during the period that fol-
babassu-filled pastures provided conditions for the integration of the lowed the land struggle. To illustrate the difference in current social
extractive activity within agro-pastoral livelihood systems. conditions of the two communities, we assess the expression of
70 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76

Table 2
Selected assets and derived indices of socioeconomic statusa in Ibiapa and Outeiro, 2002.

Outeiro Ibiapa
(n ¼ 118) (n ¼ 119)

I. Productive assets (total count)

Ia. Livestock (heads) Cattle 580 156
Horses/mules 53 26
Swine 128 66
Poultry 2563 2440
Ib. Pasture (ha) 781 90
Ic. Fruit trees 2002 1125
II. Durable goods (total count)
TV-set 55 43
Refrigerator 37 37
Gas stove 43 45
Bicycle 46 53
Sewing 16 14
machine
III. Housing features (household average)
Size (m2) 61.3 41.1
Roof material (1e4) 1.8 2.1
Wall material (1e4) 2.1 3.0
Floor material (1e4) 1.2 1.4

IV. Indices of socioeconomic status ANOVA

mean st. dev. mean st. dev. significance
Productive assetsb 65.5 147.7 22.6 33.6 0.003**
Durable goodsc 235.6 239.4 220.6 204.7 0.616
Housing conditionsd 541.1 166.2 435.0 127.3 0.000***

***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.

a
Indices should be read as follows. The Productive Asset Index and the Durable Goods Index were based upon monetary values of their components, indexed to a maximum
value of 1000. Monetary values of productive assets and durable goods owned by households (August 2001 prices) were added and indexed, being normalized according to
maximum amounts verified for each case (indexed to 1000). The Housing Index reflects weights given to the constituent items (as described in footnote d).
b
Productive assets are comprised by (a) livestock: cattle, draft animals, swine, and poultry; (b) pasture; and (c) perennial and semi-perennial crops: fruit trees, banana,
pineapple, passion fruit, and papaya.
c
Durable goods: television, satellite dish, refrigerator, gas stove, bicycle, sewing machine, stereo system, radio, and clock.
d
Housing conditions: roof, floor, wall materials, size, number of divisions, electricity, water supply, size of home garden, and presence or absence of five items: porch,
vegetable garden, water filter, and latrine. The maximum index corresponds to a dwelling made of bricked walls, tiles on the roof, cemented floor, measuring 100 m2, with 10
internal divisions, latrine, tapped water, water filter, and with electrical power, a porch, a vegetable garden, and a home garden of one hectare.
Source: R. Porro, 2002, pp.256.

violent episodes taking place in Ibiapa and the absence of violence
in Outeiro.
Indeed, one of the most telling indicators of the social conditions
prevailing in human settlements is the expression of violence. Vio-
lent events are often associated with land occupation in Brazil (e.g.:
Alston et al., 2000; Hecht and Cockburn, 2011; Martins, 1997;
Schmink, 1982; Simmons, 2004). As stated in Foweraker's political
economic analysis of expansion fronts, “violence pervades percep-
tions and practice on the pioneer frontier” (Foweraker, 2002:12).
Historically, lower levels of violence are associated to the emergence
of a civic community resulting from institutionalized social organi-
zation, with stronger engagement in terms of political, civic, and
religious participation (Lee, 2008). Yet, the historical, spatial and
cultural complexity of violence can be elicited through unequal and
unbalanced relations among groups divided along ethnic, gender,
class and age lines (Bicalho and Hoefle, 2008; Hoefle, 2006).
Violence is exacerbated when peasant communities are forced
to engage in land conflicts. However, the expression of violence in
Lago do Junco was not restricted to these struggles. Well into the
1990s, violence was expressed in different forms and degrees of
intensity and permeated much of the routines in local towns and
peasant communities where full citizenship entitlements had not
yet been achieved. In Lago do Junco, crude episodes of violence
were featured between kin-defined competing political oppo-
nents, similar to family feud observed elsewhere in the Northeast
(Bicalho and Hoefle, 1999). In addition, the intense mobility of
locals to the gold camps at neighboring Para  state and beyond
resulted in frequent manifestations of violence that permeated
those sites. During fieldwork in the Mearim valley we often
observed the expression of honor-related violence. Common sit-
uations involved extramarital (or pre-marital) relations and dis-
putes for social prestige or dominance. Violent transgressions
frequently took place in social gatherings, mostly under the in-
fluence of alcohol or illegal drugs, both in urban centers and rural
communities. When ruptures in the already fragile social fabric are
not reconstituted after land struggles, forms of violence previously
directed against outsider antagonists are to some extent diverted
to new ends and redirected against peers. The study of violence is
therefore not only essential to a comprehension of daily rural life,
but is also an entry point for understanding changes in social re-
lations, and the effect that such changes carry on for land and
resource use.
Violent episodes in Brazil's frontier lands diminished over time
with changes in national policies, especially the assignment of land
to squatters (Hoefle, 2013). Recognizing the aforementioned ten-
dency, we however note another process adding to the complexity
of violence within peasant social groups in the so-called consoli-
dated frontiers: the disastrous combination between the rupture of
kinship ties in peasant societies and the delay of state agencies to
effectively implement land reform policies following agrarian
conflicts. We thus call attention to the existence of solid kinship and
social networks as a relevant intervening factor, and argue that the
formal assignment of land to squatters is necessary, but not suffi-
cient to cease the expression of violence. The “institutionalized”
delay of governmental land reform actions provokes other forms of
violence, as the old agrarian structure and social hierarchies are
affected, but new arrangements cannot yet properly take place. Our
assertion it that the manner through which kindred operates
 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76
against threats to peasant livelihoods is crucial to overcome such
institutionalization of violence.
By contrasting the expression of violence in two villages that
present similar sociocultural and biophysical settings, we exam-
ined how collective agency involving kin relations towards their
peasant way of life resulted in rather diverse trajectories. Indeed,
Ibiapa and Outeiro proved to be clearly distinct in this regard. If
the lack of proper land use planning reflected the absence of in-
ternal cohesion in Ibiapa, violence reinforced the stress that was
already evident in the community. The expression of violence in
Outeiro was generally restricted to minor episodes that rarely
came to attention outside the community. Conversely, in Ibiapa
violence has been one of the major features of community's social
relations. Even in the post-conflict, Ibiapa's residents used to carry
guns and knives. It is not surprising that several incidents
bestowed on Ibiapa the notorious reputation as a violent and
dangerous place. Incidents that came to our attention suggested a
connection between violence and the lack of internal governance.
Whereas not a single such case was reported in Outeiro, frequent
and extreme cases of violence occurred since we started visiting
Ibiapa, soon after the land conflict ended. The episodes below,
which we transcribe from undisclosed narratives of local residents,
corroborate that violent relations are a critical aspect of social life
in the community.
(a) “After classes are over, residents are authorized to watch tele-
vision in the school. On one of those nights, Maria, who is 14 and
not a student, was in the building and was violently raped by
two young men. One was the teacher himself. The fathers of
both young men were active during the land conflict, and to this
day they are regularly consulted regarding community
organization.”
(b) “Ama ^ncio and Juvenal were drinking partners. Ama ^ncio's par-
ents were senior residents of Ibiapa. Juvenal, recently arrived,
married the daughter of a local family. On a Sunday afternoon,
Ama ^ncio killed Juvenal. He first used a shotgun. Then, once
Juvenal was down, he cut his throat. Ama ^ncio left the village,
joined by his family. People say that drugs were implicated in
the murder.”
(c) “A 15 year-old boy was fishing with his younger buddy. When
he demanded a share of his friend's catch and was refused, he
took the shotgun he was carrying and shot his young buddy to
death. The killer's family abandoned Ibiapa. The parents of the
deceased, disgusted with the episode, also left.”
(d) “Antonio was drunk and defied people who gathered in the
chapel. Those involved in the land struggle did not trust him. He
entered the church yelling cusswords and hit his knife against
benches. He wounded two and provoked the rage of the
congregation. The men attending the service overpowered and
dragged Antonio outside. They killed him by smashing rocks
over his skull.”
Acts of such physical brutality were not the only expression of
violence in Ibiapa. A distinct representative case of the state of af-
fairs in the community occurred with Dona Nilza, who was
claiming retirement benefits. Dona Nilza filed for retroactive
reimbursement, as her checks had not been released at due time. It
took several years when she finally learned that she was about to
receive a large sum, equivalent to near US$5000. She paid one-
fourth of this amount to a broker from the community, who sup-
posedly sped up the paperwork, and arranged her travel to receive
the money in town. Aware that this broker had deceived her, she
was nonetheless happy when she first told one of us (the first
author) about the case. She was expanding her house, and had
recently purchased a cow. Yet, she reported that as soon as she got
71
the money, people from all over approached her for loans. When I
returned one year later, I found Dona Nilza completely distressed.
She had fallen ill, with a skin problem that, as she said, was burning
her entire body. Dona Nilza told me that after she finished the
construction of her house, she found a strange chunk of clay in her
porch, just like clay from the local graveyard. She regrets she did not
realize she should not touch it, as it was supposedly placed there as
a witchcraft ritual. Soon after that, Dona Nilza began to feel her
illness, and never recovered. In her view, that clay was put there by
someone from the community who could not tolerate her wealth.
Another interpretation, however, is that Dona Nilza herself never
came to terms with the fact of earning a large sum of money. In a
place where the norm is to seek advantage from the better off, Dona
Nilza suddenly came herself to be the object of envy, a role she had
never experienced before.
This succession of violent episodes and incidents impregnated
with deviant social behavior in Ibiapa denote a pattern of human
relations that does not allow the reconstitution of the social fabric
in the post-conflict. Recurrence of such episodes creates a sense of
distrust that undermines and renders unfeasible the implementa-
tion of collaborative efforts. Still, questions that remain are why
human relations are impregnated with this feature in Ibiapa, but
not in Outeiro? What are the underlying features that prompted
violent episodes and unstable social relations in one place, while
people in the other managed to build a safety network to overcome
internal differences and promote community welfare? Next, we
present evidences that much of the differences between Ibiapa and
Outeiro, including the different levels of violence permeating social
life, were influenced by the structure and composition of the
communities, particularly in terms of kindred and extended family
and social networks.
5.4. Extended kinship groups and social networks
Neither the duality between scarcity and abundance of re-
sources, nor the level of social organization of each community,
should be treated as the ultimate cause of their differences.
Improved land-use planning as part of more cohesive local in-
stitutions of governance requires a state of affairs in which har-
mony and internal cooperation overtakes discord. By studying the
composition of the communities, we concluded that compared to
Ibiapa, Outeiro has a more solid and connected network of relatives
and kin. We argue that stronger and more complex kinship and
social networks, and multiple instances of social interaction
attenuate disagreements over specific issues and subjects.
Differences between the communities' internal structure and
composition are first evident in the longevity of residence (the time
that heads of nuclear households reside in the village). As seen in
Table 3, while the average length of settlement in Outeiro was
nearly 30 years for males and 25 years for females, average resi-
dence in Ibiapa was considerably shorter: 20 years for males and 17
Table 3
Age structure and longevity of residence in Ibiapa and Outeiro, 2002.
Outeiro Ibiapa
Males Females Males Females
Entire community
Average age 41.7 38.5 43.8 39.5
Average years living in the community 29.5 25.3 19.4 17.2
Individuals 40 years and older
n 49 45 46 37
Average age 55.2 53.7 54.2 53.7
Average years living in the community 35.8 34.0 21.7 20.9
Percentage of life in the community 67.3% 65.2% 42.2% 39.4%
Source: Lago do Junco's socioeconomic survey (R. Porro, 2002).
72 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76

years for females. These differences are not captured when
comparing the age-structure of the two communities, as average
ages are statistically similar.
Table 3 thus examines the subset of individuals who were at
least 40 years old in 2002. The average age in the 40 and over
subsets for Ibiapa and Outeiro is once again similar. However, the
older residents of Outeiro (both males and females) were settled
there an average of 14 years longer than Ibiapa's older residents. On
average, older residents in Outeiro moved to the village in the mid
1960s, compared to the late 1970s for Ibiapa. This difference, as will
be discussed, results from differential responses to key events in
the communities at that period.
Genealogies obtained through direct interviews with commu-
nity members provide another instance to assess community
structure. We examined and sketched the genealogy of nuclear
families in Ibiapa and Outeiro to compare the presence of extended
families, or the extent to which nuclear families relate to each other
through direct descendants or marriage. A nuclear family may be
part of more than one extended family. The largest and oldest
family-groups in the area span up to four generations. Therefore,
the positioning of a nuclear family as first, second, third, or fourth
generation will determine the number of connections, or kinship
links, with other families, and its participation in one or more of
such extended-groups. We have established a threshold of at least
five connected nuclear families to constitute a large extended
family-group.
Table 4 summarizes the size and number of generations of such
large extended family-groups in both communities. Ibiapa presents
only five large extended family-groups, and none of the groups had
more than ten households. Only three nuclear families in Ibiapa
belonging to these extended families constitute the third genera-
tion of their respective groups, denoting a relatively “young” social
network. Taken together, these five groups include only 37% of
Ibiapa's nuclear families (32 out of 87), indicating a fairly hetero-
geneous kinship basis for the community. In contrast, Outeiro
presents 14 large extended family-groups formed by at least five
nuclear families. Nine of these groups had 10 or more families.
Taken together, these 14 groups include more than 94% of the vil-
lage's nuclear families (84 out of 89). In addition to being more
extensive, the social fabric of Outeiro is more consolidated. All but
two of these groups include at least a third generation of adult
household heads, and six groups are already in the fourth genera-
tion. A total of 35 nuclear families are third or fourth generations of
their extended family-groups.
Even more valuable is the visualization of internal links among
large extended family-groups. The study of genealogies show a
more connected and complex kinship network in Outeiro than in
Ibiapa. The last column in Table 4, which is presented in more detail
in Table 5, highlights the difference between communities. The
number of kinship connections (marriages between large extended
family-groups) in Outeiro is markedly greater than in Ibiapa.
Indeed, each of the large extended-groups in Outeiro has direct
kinship connections with at least two other groups. Ten of them are
connected to at least four other extended-groups, thus composing a
much denser network. In Ibiapa, the greatest number of connec-
tions between one large extended-group and another is two. The
absolute number of direct connections between extended-groups
through inter-family marriages is 68 in Outeiro (average of 4.9
per group), and only 4 in Ibiapa (average of 0.8 per group). The
existence of a more complex kinship network in Outeiro is also
supported by indirect connections, as is the case when one large
extended family-group anchors the relationship between two
others. While such indirect connections consolidate the density of
internal social relations in Outeiro, connectivity among extended
family-groups in Ibiapa is incipient.
Contrasting kinship structures in Ibiapa and Outeiro influenced
the internal balance of economic and political power, and the entire
social environment in these communities. The incidence of mar-
riages with outside partners is proportionally greater in Ibiapa than
in Outeiro. More importantly, while outside partners in Outeiro are
predominantly women (in a 3:1 ratio), the proportion of male
outsiders who arrive in Ibiapa through marriage is the same as that
for females (1:1 ratio), and more than three times greater than the
proportion in Outeiro (31% against 9%). As culturally men are in
charge of decision-making related to resource use, smaller number
of male outsiders may allow greater cohesion in local governance.
Despite Outeiro's comparatively lesser land and resources, the
assimilation of newly formed nuclear families occurs with little

Table 4
Size, longevity, and internal connections of extended families in Ibiapa and Outeiro.

Name of family-group First arrival Generations Nuclear families in Cumulative households Extended groups with
in village in village extended-familya of village direct links

Outeiro
I. Liborio 1958 4 15 15 (17%) II, III, IV, V, VIII, IX, XIII
II. Sotero 1949 3 14 24 (27%) I, III, IV, VI, IX, XIII
III. Vidigal 1953 4 13 35 (39%) I, II, VII, XII, XIII
IV. Heleno 1958 4 12 43 (48%) I, II, VII, IX, X
V. Sobral 1953 4 11 52 (58%) I, VIII, IX
VI. Viriato 1958 3 11 60 (67%) I, II, VII, VIII, IX, X
VII. Linhares 1956 2 11 63 (71%) III, IV, VI, VIII
VIII. Arcanjo 1945 3 10 65 (73%) I, IV, V, VI, VII, X
IX. Norberto 1952 3 10 72 (81%) V, VI, XIV
X. Eneas 1970 3 8 74 (83%) I, IV, VI, VII, VIII, XI
XI. Barreto 1960 3 7 80 (89%) I, X
XII. Pestana 1948 4 6 83 (93%) III, XIII
XIII. Patrocínio 1940 4 6 83 (93%) I, II, III, XII
XIV. Medrado 1970 2 6 84 (94%) II, IV, VI, IX
Ibiapa
I. Narciso 1959 3 9 9 (10%) II
II. Coelho 1976 3 8 16 (18%) I
III. Pedreira 1966 3 7 23 (26%) IV, V
IV. Pascoal 1971 2 6 27 (30%) III
V. Everdosa 1996 2 6 32 (37%) III
a
Figures for nuclear families in extended-family show the number of resident nuclear families in the community that belong to the respective extended-family.
Source: Lago do Junco's socioeconomic survey (R. Porro, 2002).
 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76 73

Table 5
Connectivity among extended family-groups in Outeiro and Ibiapa.

Outeiro I I I I V V V V I X X X X X Ibiapa I I I I V
I I V I I I X I I I I I I V
I I I I I V I
I I
II 5 II 1
III 2 2 III
IV 1 3 IV 1
V 2 V 2
VI 2 3
VII 3 4 1
VIII 3 4 1 1
XIX 2 1
X 1 1 1 1 5
XI 1
XII 3
XIII 1 1 6 2 2
XIV 1 1 1
Note: Connectivity values express the number of paired inter-familiar connections within each
community (eg. extended family-groups I and II are connected through five nuclear families)
Source: Lago do Junco's socioeconomic survey (R. Porro, 2002).

turmoil in the community. In most cases both partners are already
part of the local social fabric. The fact that most of the outside
partners are females attenuates disputes over resources otherwise
associated with the arrival of outside males. The latter situation is
frequent in Ibiapa (Table 6). Greater proportion of male outsiders
among the younger generation (couples in which the husband is
younger than 40 years-old) requires a continuous process of in-
ternal readjustments that creates tension and reinforces opportu-
nities for conflict (see Courtwright, 1998, Chapter 1, on the
association between young men and social disorder). There are thus
enough evidences that Outeiro is a community in which better
resource use and lower incidence of violence is associated with
comparatively larger and more connected extended family-groups
than in Ibiapa.
6. Social roots of communities' differential routes
In this session we argue that the occurrence of larger and more
connected extended family-groups in Outeiro than in Ibiapa is an
outcome of key events that occurred in critical moments for the
formation of both communities. During the 1960s and early 1970s
Ibiapa and Outeiro experienced processes of economic differenti-
ation in rather different ways. In short, families in Outeiro endured
concentration of land and wealth by cattle ranchers, while most of
Ibiapa's residents decided to move out. These differential responses
were influenced by previous historical events in the communities,
and set the stage for their further trajectories that impacted sub-
sequent land-use strategies.
The historical background of Ibiapa and Outeiro allows the
identification of a sequence of contrasting developments. The first
Table 6
Insiders and outsiders in marriages in Ibiapa and Outeiro
Outeiro
N %
Total marriages (male younger than 40) 33
Both partners from the community 21 (64)
Female is an outsider 9 (27)
Male is an outsider 3 (9)
Both partners are outsiders 0 e
Source: Lago do Junco's socioeconomic survey (R. Porro, 2002).
contrast dates from the period of land occupation, from the late
1920s to about 1950. In this period, when occupation in the villages
was restricted to “Maranhenses,” the local residents of mixed
ethnicity, a more hierarchical society was formed in Ibiapa than in
Outeiro. Romualdo, who was Ibiapa's founder, was successful in his
early economic undertakings, and his son became Ibiapa's political
and economic leader. Conversely, Outeiro's founder, Bertoldo, was
unable to effectively establish hegemonic relations with families
that arrived later in the area. Power vacuum in Outeiro thus
allowed the initial development of a relatively egalitarian socio-
economic configuration in the 1930s and 1940s.
Because Bertoldo was unable to improve his family's socioeco-
nomic status during the two decades subsequent to the formation
of the village, the then residents of Outeiro did not sufficiently
enforce their tenure rights. When migrant families from the
Northeastern states of Ceara  and Piauí arrived in the 1950s escaping
from drought and dispossession, they encountered in Outeiro an
open terrain to establish a relatively unconstrained peasant society.
The arrival of today's largest extended family-groups in the com-
munity (the Liborio, Sotero, Vidigal, Heleno, Sobral, and Linhares)
dates back to those days. In the course of six decades in Outeiro,
these families became hegemonic in the social composition of the
community, superseding the older Patrocínio, Pestana, Sine sio, and
Felinto families, settled since the 1930s and 1940s. Most impor-
tantly, these newcomer families perceived themselves as entitled to
the land and resources they worked at the time, ignoring landlord
claims. At least one member of each extended family-group was
able to accumulate resources that, although limited, provided an
economic base that supported and enabled the extended-group to
endure the subsequent period of land struggle.
In Ibiapa, on the other hand, the political and economic control
long exerted by Romualdo's family inhibited the formation of an
egalitarian peasant society. Faced with political centralization
Ibiapa imposed by the ruling family, migrants sought other places to
N % settle. Those who remained in Ibiapa established social roots in a
subordinated position. Unable to accumulate even limited wealth,
29
15 (52) most of those families decided to leave the village when faced with
5 (17) State initiatives to title land to outside ranchers.
5 (17) The second contrast between Outeiro and Ibiapa was therefore
4 (14) the manner in which the concentration of land and wealth took
place, and, in addition, how local families reacted to this process.
74 R. Porro, N.S.M. Porro / Journal of Rural Studies 36 (2014) 64e76
Since the 1970s, the individuals who enlarged their landholdings in
Outeiro were Ademir, and, to a smaller extent, Norberto. Both were
part of the community, and were themselves members of extended
family-groups that still today play a prominent role in Outeiro's
social structure (groups IX and XI, in Tables 4 and 5). Although with
no means to promptly contest the economic expansion of the
better-off, the residents of Outeiro never perceived Ademir's and
Norberto's claims to larger holdings as legitimate, and ultimately
confronted them.
In Ibiapa, by contrast, state-led land privatization in the 1960s
and the transfer of private property to outside ranchers in the 1970s
aggravated pressure on families who had long experienced condi-
tions of economic and political domination. In the 1950s, Ibiapa was
one of the largest villages in the region. A massive departure of its
early residents to other regions in the state and further west in the
Amazon took place during the late 1960s and 1970s. Upon depar-
ture of former residents, a contingent of other families moved to
Ibiapa, mostly at the invitation of foremen working for the new
landowners. Although offered land to work, they ultimately served
as labor force in the conversion of forest to pasture through
planting of jaragua grass while cultivating their annual fields. Thus,
before land conflict, families that today constitute the majority of
Ibiapa's population had never considered themselves with legiti-
mate rights over the land. The few families that endured land pri-
vatization were denied full access to their land claims. During the
time spent in Ibiapa, neither of these groups experienced the
condition of a truly free peasantry.
Differences in present socioeconomic configurations can thus be
traced to earlier stages of community formation. By progressively
connecting these historical facts, we understood why such
extended kinship and social networks were featured in Outeiro.
Consolidated networks produce more harmonious relations that
allow a social environment favoring the achievement of common
interests, thus avoiding extreme conflicts and the open manifes-
tation of violence. A rather distinct perspective characterized the
social positioning of Ibiapa's residents, who felt more constrained
in their social and economic life. These families ultimately rebelled
against oppression, and, through collective action supported by the
Catholic Church, were able to access land and resources. However,
they did so through a loose kinship and social network, embedded
in a much broader and differentiated social setting. The cohesion
erupted during the land conflict did not last for daily relations
needed for resource use and management.
Once the struggle against outside ranchers in Ibiapa was over,
there were no previous practices, nor was there sufficient time to
exercise mechanisms to resolve internal conflicts. The consequence
was greater competition and the individualization of objectives, the
periodical resurgence of discord and violence, and a pervasive
feeling of social insecurity.
7. Conclusion
In this paper we traced the factors that led to collaborative ef-
forts in Outeiro, and to the less organized land-use planning wit-
nessed in Ibiapa. A careful examination of the historical background
of the two communities sheds light on what triggered not only their
different land-use trajectories, but also the contrasting ways in
which social relations and community life are manifested. Learning
from these communities' historical trajectory points out to the
different forms through which their residents experienced and
acted during crucial moments in the formation of their social
structure. Through the examination of continuities and break-
downs over extended periods, a grounded political ecology of social
life and resource use in Ibiapa and Outeiro thus supports our
understanding of the operation of today's socioeconomic configu-
rations, their respective resource allocation decisions, and envi-
ronmental outcomes.
The discussion thus emphasized the importance of internal
cohesion within peasant social systems and the need to understand
the stage experienced by each community in terms of social
consolidation. We have shown the extent to which discord and
distrust in places like Ibiapa were latent issues that affected the
community's ability to deal with external shocks. By studying the
genealogy of family groups in both communities, we noted that
collaborative relations in Outeiro could be partly explained by
larger and more consolidated kinship and social networks.
Scarcity or abundance of land suitable for shifting-cultivation
should thus not be viewed as the only underlying factor that ex-
plains land use dynamics in these communities. Rather, we argued
that such outcomes resulted from the combination of agency and
contingency, to address specific contexts of national and regional
policies that characterized critical moments in the history of the
two communities. Cooperation and agreement in Outeiro, and
discord and individual orientation in Ibiapa derive from social facts
that marked the communities during the period of land occupation
and subsequent state-supported land privatization. Of particular
relevance in this respect is the contrast between, on the one hand,
Ibiapa's historical background of hierarchical and subordinated
social relations during the initial period of land occupation, and on
the other hand, the endurance of Outeiro's residents more egali-
tarian structure during the time in which land was privatized and
social cleavage more pronounced. Comparing the condition of
Outeiro and Ibiapa's residents at the time of land struggle, while the
former constituted a truly free peasantry, the latter occupied a
rather subordinated position. Today's discrepancies in land-use
trajectories and social life can be thus traced back to the attitudes
and the agency of residents at a given stage in their community
trajectory, as they confronted socio-structural and ecological op-
portunities and constraints in the past.
We make no claim that the features described in this paper are
the only factors implicated in the distinctions between resource-
use allocations in these communities. There is no single path
characterizing socialeecological-trajectories of peasant commu-
nities. However, progressively tracing connections among relevant
features served to identify key factors that produced alternative
outcomes at the community and landscape levels. In line with the
conceptual framework of a grounded political ecology, the agency
of Ibiapa- and Outeiro- residents is combined with structural de-
terminants in responding to political, sociocultural, and ecological
features that influence decisions leading to different resource-use
routes.
Acknowledgment
My sincere gratitude to all the families from peasant commu-
nities in Lago Junco for their friendship and years of collaboration.
Special thanks to Anthony Oliver-Smith and Charles H. Wood for
guidance provided to early versions of this manuscript and to the
editor and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
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