Território tradicional e a fronteira do capital: a luta do povo Wassu-cocal em face da mercadorização da terra e do latifúndio canavieiro em Alagoas

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the complex relationships between the sucrose-energy landholding sector and Indigenous peoples in Alagoas, with a specific focus on the Wassu-Cocal people. The Wassu-Cocal Indigenous Territory (IT) is located in the municipalities of Colônia Leopoldina, Joaquim Gomes, Matriz do Camaragibe, and Novo Lino, where this research seeks to highlight agrarian conflicts resulting from historical land concentration and the political power of sugarcane oligarchies. Grounded in historical-dialectical materialism, the investigation adopts a perspective that seeks to confront social contradictions and territorial transformations caused by the speculation of land rent and its impacts on Indigenous peoples. The study analyzes the actions of the sugar elites and the Indigenous resistance for their original right to the territory. To this end, the objective is to identify the social agentes involved and characterize the main challenges of the land concentration process, aiming to understand the consequences for the guarantee of social justice and territorial rights. The research maps conflict areas at the interface between Indigenous lands and sugarcane monoculture, evidencing how the Alagoas land structure impacts the traditional way of life. Furthermore, it evaluates the policies for land recognition and titling, analyzing how the dynamics of land price appreciation, the rural real estate market, and incentives to the sucrose-alcohol sector drive land speculation and intensify territorial clashes. The methodology combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to understand agrarian dynamics, recognizing traditional communities as the most vulnerable link in the struggle for demarcation and cultural preservation. The theoretical framework is based on the concepts of territory, territorialization, latifundium, and Indigenous lands. Based on the historiography of land distribution in Brazil and Alagoas, the study discusses how aggressive capitalism governs the land market, promoting an appreciation that, consequently, deepens agrarian conflicts. It concludes that addressing the Indigenous question in the state requires understanding its root: the conflict over land and the way capital modifies and appropriates it. The defense of the Wassu-Cocal territory transcends environmental preservation; it is an act of resistance against the logic of the commodity, reaffirming that for original peoples, the land is the inseparable basis of their existence and dignity.