Abstract
This article results from ethnographic fieldwork in farms that produce artisanal cheese, in the southwest of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The analysis focuses on the meanings of the practices developed there, especially concerning livestock, which conflict with recommendations of technicians working in the public sector. The latter have tried to manage both human and non-human lives, within a process of development supported by legislation and the insertion of technology, changing the traditional productive practices. This top-down managerial strategy has overshadowed the complex knowledge and the modes of existence empirically observed in these areas. I demonstrate how local practices of mutuality have provided answers that reinvent meanings for life.
Keywords:
mutuality; cattle; coloniality; peasantry