Brazilian Agrarian Geography: Genesis and Diversity

Agrarian Geography is very recent; it was recognized as a fraction of knowledge less than half a century ago. Nevertheless, knowledge on this field is as ancient as history of mankind, at least that of people whose agricultural practice modified their social development chances. Therefore, we understand Agrarian Geography as a certain moment of structuring knowledge about land and agriculture, grounded on a systematization of knowledge based on scientific principles. Under these conditions, we intend to analyze the transformation movement in the way Brazilian Agrarian Geography has been thought, taking Geography’s inner context, as well as its social background, as a reference. With this purpose, this paper discusses the genesis of Agrarian Geography, based on the approaches addressed to it, as well as on its definition as a field of knowledge, although marked by a great theoretical and methodological diversity, yet constitutive of a unity as a field of knowledge.