CAMPESINATO, GRUPO DOMÉSTICO E GÊNERO: O COTIDIANO DE VAQUEIROS E MULHERES NO INTERIOR CEARENSE

Abstract

Considering the figure of the cowherd, and above all, that of his wives as central elements of the discussion, this article is based on the concepts of peasantry, domestic group and gender, as well as the relations between men and women on two farms in the municipality of Sobral (CE), here called “Fazenda Estrela” and “Fazenda Grotas”. I investigate how these spaces, in the case of public and private environments, vary according to the bodies that inhabit them and how they are transformed: whether in everyday life, through the separation of sexual roles in the work routine, or when there are vaquejada (bull-catching) disputes. I realize that the attribution of functions performed by members of the peasant family, previously under male domination, can be understood as a “hierarchical complementarity”, since both man and woman contribute to the performance of daily functions on the properties. However, in addition to this characteristic help in the distribution of activities in the domestic group, the data indicate that women also start to assume the role of competitors in the vaquejada disputes, and not just that of spectators or husband's companions. That way, the research questions the equivalence between public:private and male:female oppositions, problematizing this structural homology, without thus assuming an “equality” between men and women.