Das águas que calam às águas que falam: opressão e resistência no curso das representações da água na Chapada do Apodi

Abstract

In this study we analyzed the social representations of water in Tomé, a community in Chapada do Apodi (Northeastern Brazil), and their relation to the socioenvironmental conflicts resulting from the establishment of the Jaguaribe-Apodi irrigation district. Centered on the community in Tomé, we evaluated changes in the use of and access to water in order to identify the relation between, on one side, the processes of private appropriation of water resources and contamination by agrochemicals associated with the adoption of agro-export models, and, on the other side, changes in the local populationʼs perceptions and web of significance of water. The approach was qualitative, based on deep hermeneutics, and comprised an array of techniques, such as open interviews, inclusion of members of the community in research groups, ethnographic field work with participant observation, and field logs. The collected data were interpreted by way of discourse analysis. Agricultural modernization was found to have disrupted the local populationʼs perceptions and web of significance of water, leading to changes in collective water use practices. Processes were identified which tend towards loss of the perception of water as a collective good and the individualization of strategies of defense and protection against risks. These changes have taken hold through mechanisms of symbolic violence perpetrated by power agents against local populations silenced out of fear of discussing issues like contamination and private appropriation of water resources. A symbolic reconstruction of the web of significance of water in light of rights and access to common goods is necessary in order to reinforce local resistance.