Congratulations to Murilo Carlos Siqueira, a master’s degree student working with the Brazil FLOW team, who recently defended his master’s thesis! The project is titled, “Erveiros of Paraná: The impact of public policies on the culture and world of labour (1968–1994),” and investigates the impacts of public policies on the culture of labour and working conditions related to yerba mate production in Paraná between 1968 and 1994.
Because of the historical, social, and environmental relevance of yerba mate in the territory of Paraná, there is a need to better understand transformations in labour relations, landscape management, and public policies that affected the activity in the context of agricultural modernization. This thesis explores such processes through the theoretical frameworks used in environmental history in dialogue with the social history of labour. The research combines documentary analysis using the Uriel Nogueira archive collection at the Campos Gerais Museum with a series of oral history interviews recorded with yerba mate producers in the south-central region of Paraná. The analysis demonstrates that the period analyzed was marked by a reconfiguration of yerba mate production, characterized by tensions between models of productive specialization and monoculture and practices based on shade management, in addition to constituting the basis for the emergence of agroecological experiences in the region.
