Territory, science and resistance

Agronomic practices and the role of public universities in the reconstruction of Latin American thought

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of public universities in Latin America as spaces of dispute between antagonistic agronomic projects: on the one hand, agribusiness, with its productivist, technocratic and subordinate logic to global capital; on the other, training and extension experiences committed to agroecology, the knowledge of rural peoples and the construction of alternatives to the hegemonic model of rural development. The research adopts a qualitative approach, based on documentary analysis, bibliographic review and case studies in Agronomy courses at institutions recognized for their critical rural extension practices. The results indicate that agroecological centers and university collectives, by establishing links with social movements, have promoted a re-signification of the role of the university, stressing technicist curricula and strengthening the co-production of situated knowledge. Critical extension, guided by the principles of Freirean popular education, emerges as a practice of epistemic resistance, which repositions territories as pedagogical and political spaces. These experiences show the potential of public universities to contribute to the construction of critical Latin American agronomic thinking, rooted in socio-territorial diversity and committed to social justice, food sovereignty and sustainability. In conclusion, by linking science and social justice, these initiatives affirm the university as an instrument of social transformation and the reconstruction of the epistemologies of the South.