Rural social movements, political praxis, and inclusion in education: Perspectives and advances in contemporary Brazil

Abstract

This article presents the concept of inclusion from the perspective of rural social movements in Brazil and argues that this conception is not restricted to the guarantee of individual rights, the meaning attributed by liberal rights and citizenship. On the contrary, we argue that inclusion constitutes a collective right that does not require association with a political project of an emancipatory character. Based on this analytical framework, the authors demonstrate an approach to inclusion that materializes in the political praxis of rural social movements, and in particular, in claiming the right to insert the concept of inclusion into rural educational policy debates, which also relates to the struggle to defend the land and popular agrarian reform. Likewise, the article takes stock of rural education in general, highlighting the advances and challenges posed by a sense of inclusion and its tensions with the hegemonic capitalist state.