Feminist Research Praxis in the Making: The Agroecological Logbooks in Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Science and Technology Studies has challenged the binary between scientific and nonscientific knowledge, exposing how epistemic practices are deeply entangled, including in fields like agriculture and development. This binary has historically underwritten colonial exclusion and been used to deny colonized people's epistemic agency. To produce knowledge that matters for marginalized communities, research must be territorially grounded, situated, and aligned with local struggles that extend beyond the boundaries of formal academic institutions. Through feminist participatory action and ethnographic methods, this article explores the Agroecological Logbooks (ALs), a feminist initiative in Brazil where rural women make visible their agroecological and (re)productive labor through self-managed pedagogical tools. Rooted in Latin American critical pedagogy and feminist praxis, ALs foster auto-research: women collectively define problems, gather data, analyze findings, and mobilize for change. In this process, they collectively investigate and critique their role and position in the family, communities, and broader society. As feminist militants and researchers, we argue that the ALs exemplify a feminist research praxis accountable to social struggles. By advancing and mobilizing situated, embodied knowledges through praxis, and challenging patriarchal norms in society and colonial exclusions in research, they also transform what counts as research, offering a collective, situated, and liberatory example.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Science Technology & Human Values, 2026 · DOI ↗