Afetividade em contextos de desapropriação: impactos psicossociais das obras do cinturão das águas do Ceará em comunidades rurais do município do Crato-CE

Abstract

The process of creating and implementing public policies in the scope of Water Resources still occurs vertically, so that the participation of the population in planning, social control and evaluation of strategies is not effective. As a result, there is the emergence of water works as a way to solve problems of access to water. In the Baixio das Palmeiras district, located in the city of Crato, Cariri, the arrival of the works of the Ceará Water Belt (CAC) is causing inconvenience to the inhabitants who are in the process of compulsory displacement. In view of this panorama, the present dissertation aimed to investigate, starting from the category of affection, the psychosocial impacts of the process of expropriation caused by the works of CAC on residents of rural communities in the aforementioned district. To this end, we sought to: i) contextualize how the process of expropriation is taking place in the communities surveyed; ii) understand the potential and vulnerabilities of the resistance practices developed by the investigated population in the face of the expropriation process; and iii) observe how affection permeates the relationship between the residents of the rural communities surveyed and their place of residence. Theoretically supported by studies on development, public policies and socio-environmental psychology, this study sought to understand the current context of the population in the face of imminent expropriation and what are the affects involved in this process. This qualitative research, characterized as participant research, relied on the use of two strategies: participant observation and the Affective Maps Generating Instrument (IGMA). The information collected was treated and evaluated based on the analysis of categorical content. Among the results, the contrast image was the most prominent, and the relationship and involvement with the community denote feelings related to the esteem of belonging and the process of expropriation and arrival of the Ceará Water Belt as promoters of feelings of insecurity. As a result of this process, four types of impact are seen: a) promotion of situations of ethical-political suffering; b) promoting situations of fragility in the health of the expropriated population; c) fostering the emergence of social movements of resistance and defense of the territory; and d) perception of insecurity regarding the next stages of the work. It is concluded that it is necessary to address the psychosocial dimension and the participation of the affected population in all stages of the formulation of a Great Investment Project (GPI), generated by a public policy. Because the process of expropriation does not only concern the financial dimension, but a whole life story and link with the place, which will be affected and modified by an unexpected and imposing situation.