MONOCULTURA DE PAISAGENS E MENTES

A noção de plantation como construto mental no neocolonialismo brasileiro

Abstract

The paper proposes the study of the theoretical notion of plantation, and its contemporary repercussions. This subject, due to the social, economic and environmental issues that it raises, has been arousing more and more interest in academic debates, and, especially in Brazil, a country with a productive model based on export monoculture. The idea of ​​plantation is fundamental for understanding the relations and networks carried out in the political and economic field, in the case of a nation in permanent allegation of overcoming backwardness and in the search for such progress. In the name of development, the option for agribusiness as a priority investment, responsible for a large part of the Gross Domestic Product, explains how the concentration of land and capital in the hands of a small privileged portion, takes place at the expense of the withdrawal of land and resources of peasants, indigenous peoples, quilombolas and other traditional communities. The methodology used consisted of theoretical analysis, through bibliographic sources, by the inductive method. It starts with the study of the concepts of plantation, power and the connections with the colonization model, the elaboration of the mental construct of monoculture as a civilizing and wealth-generating element, and the discursive power that legitimizes this production pattern. The results point to the formation of a powerful mental construct, which justifies violent practices by the State and individuals, in the name of maximized productivity, which is supported by a large part of the population, even those harmed by the system itself.