Socio-environmental struggles and the challenges of action research with popular movements

Abstract

In the ten years of existence of the Institute of Research, Laws and Social Movements, it seems important for us to reflect on ways of thinking about action research in light of socio-environmental struggles that have marked the organization of popular movements in Brazil. Throughout the 90's, the environmental issue was incorporated by the hegemonic discourse through the notion of sustainable development, consolidated in the promotion of the green economy. Thus, it becomes possible to think of the continuity of capitalist production incorporating Nature, no longer as an externality, but as part of the advance of mercantilization. In resistance to this, historical popular movements, as well as new organizational forms, especially of youth, have been articulating themselves for a politicization of the environmental issue, which can connect the anti-systemic struggle for the construction of a more just and egalitarian society, with the continuity of life on planet earth. It is assumed that these movements bring innovations in the processes of relationship with action research since they are marked by the presence of a plurality of actors, and of the relationships between local and global scales. Thus, the article intends to bring some preliminary reflections on these innovations to think about the field of action of the Institute's researchers.