Seed Guardians

Food Security and Sovereignty in the Lives of the Mbyá Guarani in Brazil and Argentina

Abstract

The article provides a summary of the author's dissertation titled “Seed Guardians: Food Security and Sovereignty in the Lives of the Mbyá Guarani in Brazil and Argentina.” It addresses the theme of the human right to adequate food and nutrition (DHANA) and food and nutritional security (SAN) within the paradigm of the coloniality of power and knowledge, as well as attempts to deconstruct it through the concept of food sovereignty (SoBA). The focus is on Mbyá Guarani women in Brazil and Argentina, considering their perspective on territory (yvyrupa), village (tekoa), seeds, and food. The methodology used is collaborative and comparative, grounded in a decolonial feminist theoretical framework. The dissertation explores divergences between indigenous and state perspectives, the Mbyá worldview, their relationship with the Brazilian and Argentine states, and the leadership of Mbyá women in resistance and autonomy initiatives. These women, by forging partnerships, exchange seeds and knowledge while building new ways of existing. It concludes that the collective right to a territory and free determination of its use holds greater significance than the concepts of DHANA and SAN, as it ensures the physical and cultural reproduction of the Guarani people in accordance with their way of being, doing, and living.