Brazilian Geography: In Theory and in the Streets

Description

This book presents the history and theoretical contributions of Brazilian geography since the late twentieth century and shows how this sphere of knowledge has been organically integrated with social and territorial issues and with social movements. The relationship between the subjects and objects of research in Brazilian geography has been centred on the understanding and transformation of realities marked by injustice and inequality. Against this backdrop, the geography of the country has developed by integrating, relating to, and forming part of those realities as it headed out into the streets. Brazilian geography continues to hold theoretical debate in high regard as a result of the influence of critical theory. This book thus covers the theoretical approaches in Brazilian geography, its different lines of research, and above all its character as manifested in culture and society. Contents 1 Introduction References Part I Theoretical Contributions and Challenges for Brazilian Geography 2 Critical Geography: From the Office to the Streets 2.1 Introduction 2.2 “The Crisis of and in Geography” 2.3 The Unity of Crisis-Criticism 2.4 Geography Comes to the Streets 2.5 A Pause for Reflection: At Coffee Break 2.6 Geography in the Streets: The AGB—“A Necessary Breath of Fresh Air” 2.7 Final Reflection References 3 Far Beyond the ‘Natural Environment’: Geography at the Crossroads of the Capitalocene 3.1 ‘Anthropocene,’ ‘Capitalocene’… and the Geographers 3.2 From the ‘Natural Environment’ to the Concrete Environment to the Environment-Territory-Place Approach 3.3 Better Late Than Never: The Emergence of Environmental Geography 3.4 The Capitalocene at the (Semi-)periphery of World Capitalism 3.5 Conclusion: Escaping the Twentieth Century References 4 Brazilian Geography and the Study of Territorial Formation 4.1 The Presence of the Past: Immanent Permanence 4.2 The Case of the Colony that Was the Seat of the Metropole 4.3 Historical Geographies, Histories of Geography and Territorial Formation in Brazil 4.4 Eternal Returns in the Territorial Formation of Brazil References 5 Man is His Being in the World. Geography and Geographicity 5.1 Geographicity 5.2 The Forms of Geographicity 5.3 Primitive Accumulation and the Framework of Modern Geographicity 5.4 The Adventures of Autopoiesis 5.5 The Spatial Malaise of Modern Society References 6 Physical Geography and the Study of Environmental Problems: The Brazilian Contribution 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Physical Geography Post-1970s 6.3 From Studies of Nature to the Environment 6.4 Environmental Studies, Topics Covered 6.5 The Debate and Paths of Environmental Analysis in Brazil 6.6 Final Notes References 7 The Study of Cities in Brazilian Geography 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Pioneers in Brazilian Urban Geography 7.3 Brazilian Cities Analysed by Urban Geographers 7.4 The Production of Urban Geography Over the Last 30 years (1989–2021) 7.5 The National Symposia on Urban Geography (Simpurbs) 7.6 The Cidades Journal 7.7 Conclusions References 8 The Production of Urban Space and “Critical Geography” 8.1 From Geography to Metageography 8.2 Repercussions of This Investigation 8.2.1 The Level of Social Relations Producing Space 8.2.2 The Accumulation of Capital as a Moment of the Reproduction of Urban Space 8.3 The Struggles for Space in Space 8.4 Conclusion References 9 Dialogues on Brazilian Political Geography and Its Perspectives in the Twenty-First Century 9.1 Political Geography and Geopolitics in Brazil: Traditions and Changes 9.2 Geopolitics of Knowledge 9.3 Political Geography and Its Disciplinary Dialogues 9.4 State Management and Political Geography 9.5 Intradisciplinary Dialogues 9.6 A Note on School Geography and Political Geography 9.7 Territory in the Dialogues of Political Geography 9.8 Final Considerations References 10 The Consensual Divorce of Geography. Adherence to Neoliberalism, the Cult of Freedom and the Overthrow of Democracy 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Vulgate of Liberal Freedom 10.3 Neoliberalism Against Democracy 10.4 The Neoliberal Bureaucratic Symbiosis 10.5 The State and the Mapping of Social Rights 10.6 The Consensual Divorce of Geography References 11 Scientific Research and the Construction of the Field of Teaching of Geography in Schools: Trends and Challenges 11.1 Introduction 11.2 The Development of the Field of the Teaching of Geography 11.3 The Indissociability Between Initial and Continuing Teacher Education, Research and Outreach References 12 The Contribution of Milton Santos to the Theoretical Formation of Brazilian Geography 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Education in Bahia and His Doctorate in Strasbourg: Regional Geography and Planning 12.3 Proposals for Autonomous Thought: The Two Circuits of the Urban Economy and Socio-Spatial Formation 12.4 The Nature of Space and the Current Conditions of Its Transformation 12.5 The Strength of Place: Towards Another Globalisation References 13 Carlos Augusto de Figueiredo Monteiro and the Construction of Brazilian Geographical Climatology 13.1 Introduction 13.2 A Perspective on Climate in Search of Its True Comprehension 13.3 The Rhythms of Time: The Need for an Approach Using a Fine Spatio-Temporal Scale 13.4 The UCS—Urban Climate System 13.5 Conclusions and Final Considerations References 14 Aziz Nacib Ab’Saber and the Professionalisation of Research in Geomorphology in Brazilian Geography Courses 14.1 Introduction 14.2 Institutional Spaces Prior to the Creation of Universities in Brazil 14.3 Aziz Nacib Ab’Saber's Contribution to the Formation of Geographic Geomorphology in Brazil 14.4 Final Reflections References Part II Brazilian Geography, a Geography of the Street 15 The Right to the City and the Housing in Brazilian Cities 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Overview of Housing Insecurity in Brazil 15.3 Urban Land Ownership: A Factor in Socio-Spatial Inequality 15.4 The World of Work and the Production of Affordable Housing 15.5 The Institutional Process of Recognising the Right to Housing 15.6 The Production of ‘Social-Interest’ Housing by the State 15.7 The Relentless Struggles for the Right to Housing and the City 15.8 Final Considerations References 16 The Long March of the Brazilian Peasantry: Socioterritorial Movements, Conflicts and Agrarian Reform 16.1 Principles and Assumptions 16.2 A History of Fighting and Violence 16.3 “He Who Knows the Time, Does Not Wait for it to Happen” 16.4 Conflicts and Land Occupations 16.5 The Brazilian State and Agrarian Reform 16.6 The Fernando Henrique Cardoso Government and Agrarian Reform 16.7 The Future … in the New Twenty First Century 17 Land and Food: The New Struggles of the Landless Workers Movement (MST) 17.1 Current Situation of the Struggle for Land and Agrarian Reform 17.2 Land and Food: The MST’s Struggle for the Price of Ecological Rice 17.3 Ecological Rice Production and Price Struggles 17.4 Conclusion References 18 Geography and Indigenous Peoples: Struggles of Resistance 18.1 Introduction 18.2 The Expansion Fronts in Guaraní Lands 18.3 Tehoka Renewals and Guarani R-existences, An Ontological Turn 18.4 Guarani and Kaiowá R-existences: Impasses and Challenges 18.5 Final Considerations References 19 The Geography of Labour Under Construction: Theoretical Challenges and Research Praxis 19.1 Introduction 19.2 The Geography of Labour: A Theoretical Construction in Motion 19.3 Contemporaneity of the Total Lack of Protection of the Subjects of Labour and the Working Class 19.4 Labour and the Working Class in the Digital Age, in Times of COVID-19 19.5 Final Considerations References 20 A Popular Environmentalism in Defence of Life, Dignity and Territory (An Autobiographical Contribution from an Activist Geographer) 20.1 Introduction 20.2 The Constitution of the Environmental Field References 21 Decolonisation Challenges of the Brazilian/Latin American Geography/ies 21.1 Questioning Replicant Logic and Eurocentrism 21.2 The Decolonial Challenge and Brazilian Geography 21.3 An Example of Conceptual Decolonisation: Territory and Multiplicity of De-territorialisation Processes 21.4 Some Final Considerations References 22 Brazilian Feminist Geographies: Occupying Space, Resisting Negation and Producing Challenges to Geography 22.1 Introduction 22.2 The Recent Feminisation of Brazilian Geography 22.3 The Fissures of Male Power in Brazilian Geography and the Tension Caused by Approaches to Gender and Sexualities 22.4 Feminist Epistemologies: Love as an Element of Spatial Policy and the Ethics of Caring for Life 22.5 Closing Remarks References 23 Association of Brazilian Geographers (AGB): The Construction of a Geography of Struggle 23.1 Introduction 23.2 From Foundation to Democratic Refoundation 23.3 From Democratic Refoundation to the Dilemmas of the Pandemic 23.4 Conclusion References Epilogue