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Contribution short abstract

Explores how rural youth in Maranhão navigate declining babaçu-based livelihoods. Using feminist, decolonial, and agrarian political ecology, it examines aspirations, constraints, and the future of agroecological transitions across Indigenous and Quilombola territories.

Contribution long abstract

Babaçu-based livelihoods in Maranhão embody long-standing agroecological practices grounded in women’s knowledge, care, and political praxis. Yet these practices face a profound continuity crisis: most young people do not engage in babaçu extraction, even in communities where it remains culturally significant. While existing studies acknowledge generational decline, little is known about how rural youth understand and navigate these transformations.

This research examines youth perspectives on the future of babaçu livelihoods across an Indigenous territory and adjacent Quilombola communities in a region marked by land conflict, agribusiness expansion, and everyday insecurity. Drawing on engaged ethnography, informal conversations, document analysis, and ongoing semi-structured interviews, the study investigates how aspirations, gendered expectations, mobility, and territorial identity shape youth decisions to stay, leave, or reconfigure their relationship with babaçu. A multi-sited, feminist, decolonial, and agrarian political ecology approach illuminates how structural pressures, intergenerational tensions, and historical inequalities intersect with young people’s lived experiences.

By centering youth voices, the study offers new insights into the socio-political conditions that enable or hinder agroecological transformations. The findings highlight not only the constraints youth face but also their visions for dignified, meaningful rural futures. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for designing policies and community initiatives that support intergenerational continuity and expand pathways for territorial agroecology in Maranhão.