Grandes projetos de desenvolvimento, conflito sócio-ambiental, reserva extrativista e o povoado do Taim

Abstract

Choosing as empirical field the village of Taim, in the city of São Luís, in the island of Maranhão, the authors analyse the conflict between the local inhabitants and the administrators of large “development projects” established in the area since the end the 1970’s, as by products of the “Grande Carajás” project. At the center of such conflict lies the fight for the possession and control of territories. Leb by “União de Moradores de Taim”, starting in 1996 various settlements have demanded the creation of an extractive reserve. As a basis for this demand, the residents stress the existence of a way of living which has been ancestrally built, with low levels of environmental aggression and roots on traditional populations.