Farewell to Mónica Isabel Bendini, member of the Working Group on Agricultural Work, Inequalities and Ruralities
¡Thank you and always!
Just a few days ago, our dear friend and colleague Mónica Bendini, a pioneer and leading figure in Latin American rural studies, passed away. Mónica was a driving force and active participant in the CLACSO Working Group “Agricultural work, inequalities and ruralities”Alongside researchers with whom she cultivated strong academic and personal bonds throughout her life, we who had the privilege of knowing her are deeply saddened by her passing, which leaves an enormous void and also a strong commitment to carrying on her legacy. We share and endorse the words written by Josefa Salete Barbosa Cavalcanti. We send our heartfelt condolences to her family, colleagues, and all her loved ones.
MÓNICA ISABEL BENDINI: courage, wisdom, generosity, poetry, and inspiration. Qualities embodied amidst the challenging territories of Patagonia, the tranquility of its rivers and boats, and the colors and art of its people.
At this painful moment of saying goodbye to sociologist Mónica Isabel Bendini, we seek to express our nostalgia and also to highlight the privilege and gift of the time shared with this remarkable academic and person who filled her days with a love for science, research, and family. We offer our gratitude to Mónica and extend our deepest condolences to her family: her daughters Leticia and Lucía, her son Andrés, and her grandson Valentino.
Recognizing the greatness of her scientific contribution, celebrating her career, and thanking her for her work in strengthening the Social Sciences and the training of human resources in Latin America are part of our gratitude for the many generations of students trained by Mónica and for the inestimable value of her example and legacy that survive her earthly death, which occurred on April 4, 2022. Through her work and contributions to academia and local populations, Mónica Bendini will continue to be, through her example and academic legacy, a name that exalts the Social Sciences in Latin America.
A Doctor of Sociology, she was recognized as Professor Emerita of the National University of Comahue, where she developed her career as a researcher and teacher for more than three decades. She was a principal investigator at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET). She completed postdoctoral fellowships and was a visiting professor at universities in Brazil, Uruguay, Canada, Spain, the United States, and Mexico.
Mónica made a significant contribution to research and the training of researchers in the field of rural and labor sociology. Her work and academic output were crucial in promoting the Group for Social and Agrarian Studies (GESA) and the creation of the Postgraduate Program in Sociology of Latin American Agriculture at the National University of Comahue, as well as raising the profile of Latin American academic institutions in international associations.
His vast output of internationally published books and articles, focused on agriculture Her family background, her work with indigenous and peasant populations in Argentine Patagonia, as well as the extensive fieldwork she conducted in other Latin American countries, made her a specialist in rural development studies, working in universities and national and international research institutions.
His contribution to the training of human resources in the area of sociology and agricultural sciences is noteworthy, emphasizing ethnic inequalities. and gender in the workplace. She was a field researcher and active collaborator with peasant movements, migrant workers, and their regional and national associations. She worked tirelessly to build national and international scientific societies. She frequently participated in the ALASRU and IRSA congresses and the national conferences of the Argentine PIEA; she was the Latin American representative to the RC40 of the International Sociological Association. In particular, Mónica made a rich and continuous contribution to rural sociology, participating regularly in its congresses as an organizer, presenter, and debater until recent years.
I met Monica at the second ALASRU Congress, in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1986. This meeting led to debates and discussions that paved the way for the Third ALASRU Congress, organized by Mónica Bendini and held in 1990 at the National University of Comahue in the cities of Neuquén and General Roca. With an excellent agenda developed by Mónica and her team, representatives from Latin America and other countries gathered there in Argentine Patagonia. The number of participants and the stimulating agenda offered promising opportunities for alliances to advance the development of Rural Sociology and the growth of the Latin American academic community. Several projects and exchanges were carried out, supported by national and international funding agencies, especially CONICET CNPq, CAPES CONACYT, CLACSO, the Carolina Foundation, and the Ministries of Education of several Latin American countries, including Brazil. Thanks to Mónica's commitment and dedication, exchanges with associations, research groups, and networks were expanded. international research, including LASA's Food, Agriculture, and Rural Studies, the RC40 of the International Sociological Association, and the ALASRU and CLACSO Working Group on Agricultural Work, Inequalities and Ruralities.
Mónica was always a researcher dedicated to the people of her country, Patagonia, critical and demanding in the production and dissemination of knowledge, as has already been recognized. From our research experience in the Sertão of Northeast Brazil and in Patagonia, in the fruit production fields for export in the São Francisco do Rio Negro and Neuquén Valleys, records emerged of the richness of her contributions and the knowledge gained from her field research observations. From that involvement with the research, opportunities opened up for the realization We have participated in postgraduate courses, such as the Master's Program in Latin American Rural Sociology at the University of Comahue, postdoctoral programs, and academic stays at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil. These exchanges have resulted in books, articles, dissertations, and theses. In 2015, we received an international award for our work. More recently, we completed a chapter published in a book by Annablume Publishers in 2022. We developed a collaborative writing technique that allowed us to write, quite literally, in collaboration, a result of our long-standing academic partnership.
EIn 2018, ALASRU paid tribute to her in a special session of the Congress held in Montevideo. This session, entitled “The Role of Research and Education in Understanding the Transformations of the Rural World: The Contributions of Mónica Isabel Bendini,” featured presentations by Josefa Salete Barbosa Cavalcanti (Federal University of Pernambuco); Alessandro Bonanno (Sam Houston State University); Sara María Lara Flores (UNAM); Luis Daniel Hocsman (University of Córdoba); Pedro Tsakoumagkos (CEA.FCS/FCA.UNC); Norma Graciela Steimbreger (National University of Comahue); Andrés Pedreño Cánovas (University of Murcia); and many other colleagues, who expressed their recognition and gratitude for her career.
SHer publications offer a wide range of contributions to the field of Sociology, in its various senses: field of research and study, field of teaching, and field of work. The book "The Field in Contemporary Sociology," produced in collaboration with other researchers, is an example of this. Mónica is the co-author of several publications, which reflect her collaborative approach to work. In her writings on this field, she has brought visibility to and sparked debate on significant issues concerning the rural world and the ways in which spaces of production and work are transformed. The plurality of contributions, territories, and populations studied is noteworthy, including: on transhumant herders, the strategies of social reproduction and survival of peasants in Patagonia; in "With Bare Hands," the transformations of Argentine fruit farming and the role of women in these processes; and in "Of Swallows and Other Migrants," survival and migration strategies. In analyzing the transformations under the impact of food globalization, the study emphasizes international migration and the contradictions of worker mobility, the transformation of livestock farmers and smallholders, and the new agro-industries emerging in Patagonian contexts. The delimitation of the spaces and subjects that define these fields was always carried out with great care, drawing on precise theoretical and methodological contributions, alliances, and dialogues with researchers from their university and around the world.
Professor Bendini made a remarkable contribution to the development of Rural Sociology in Argentina and Latin America. She was a beacon that illuminated Latin American sociology for over 50 years. Much has been written about her career, and much more remains to be recorded. I thank my dear colleague for her joy of life, courage, friendship, and solidarity. Thank you so much, dear warrior, comrade in so many struggles, so many caipirinhas, and so many shared mates in Brazil and in the "Land of the Wind."
Thank you, Monica, for all your contributions to making this world fairer and to making the working days of sociology easier.May beautiful ships and breezes carry you to places of beauty, justice, generosity, and friendship. Farewell!
April 20th 2022
Josefa Salete Barbosa Cavalcanti
CLACSO Working Group
Agricultural work, inequalities and rural life
This statement expresses the position of the Group of Agricultural work, inequalities and rural life and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
