Riverine territorialities in the brazilian Amazon: impacts of Belo Monte Dam on the extractive reserves of Terra do Meio

Author(s)

Maíra Borges Fainguelernt

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2019-03-14

Examining board members

Emilio F. Moran; Neli Aparecida de Mello Théry; Mauro William Barbosa de Almeida; Lúcia da Costa Ferreira; Leonardo Civale

• Advisor: Emilio F Moran; Eduardo Sonnewend Brondízio

Abstract

This PhD dissertation aims to analyze the impacts of the Belo Monte dam located in the Xingu River (state of Pará), from the perspective of the riverine populations of the extractive reserves of the Terra do Meio - Iriri, Xingu and Riozinho do Anfrísio. In this regard, it seeks to answer four questions: (i) what is the territoriality of the riverine inhabitants of Terra do Meio; (ii) how does the overlap between categories of protected areas and the area of impacts of the dam exclude the extractive reserves as affected territories; (iii) what contradictions are evident from the view of the riverine people of Iriri Reserve regarding the impacts of Belo Monte; (iv) and what are the contributions to environmental research of this thesis in the context of reducing the impacts of large hydroelectric dams in protected areas. The notion of territoriality constitutes the theoretical framework, having the literature of geography and anthropology as reference. The human-environment interactions research in the Brazilian Amazon are discussed within the context of the sub-areas of human ecology, cultural ecology and political ecology. The literature review also engages the identity of the riverine populations and the complexity of the processes of colonization, miscegenation and territorial and socioeconomic transformations in the region. The core argument is that despite significant advances in Brazilian environmental legislation and the recognition of the rights of traditional populations in the Amazon region, the overlap of environmental and socio-cultural categories of protected areas with the definition of affected territories generates a process of socio-spatial inequality. None of the extractive reserves of the Terra do Meio were considered in the pre-dam environmental assessments, for example. An investigation of the Iriri's extractivist population highlights the processes of riverine invisibility. The environmental and cultural categories involved social stigma and the conservationist logic that imposes hierarchies between traditional populations and protected areas in Brazilian environmental policy. This research uses qualitative methods and involves ethnographic methods, participant observation, and semi-structured interviews, focus groups and mapping. Finally, the PhD dissertation shows the consequences of following a conservation and development model in the Amazon that continues to threaten the rights of historically neglected populations (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/08842-6 - Socio-spatial changes in the Brazilian Amazon: a case study on territories of the of riverside communities affected by the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Plant on the Xingu River
• Grantee: Maíra Borges Fainguelernt
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate