Canaã dos Carajás: a laboratory study concerning the circumstances of urbanization, on the global periphery at the dawn of the 21^st century

Abstract

This article addresses the processes of urbanization and urban sprawl in Canaã dos Carajás, a small relatively recent Amazonian municipality. The analysis is dialectically structured according to Lefebvre’s interpretation of the levels of social reality. The global level captures how capital-intensive activities (mining, ranching, and monoculture) have impacted the connection between the place of production and the global market. The mixed level explains how local social groups, inspired by global processes, have mediated urbanization. The local level demonstrates how blind spots in understanding the ongoing processes have impaired the strengthening of diversity, and led to the exclusion of social groups that most depend on the land and nature. We conclude that it is necessary to articulate contemporary formulations and studies on Brazilian urbanization so as to demonstrate the selective manner in which modernization takes place and is constituted in new forms of colonization, whenever economic opportunities formulate socioenvironmental issues in a conservative manner.

Keywords:
urbanization; modernization; mining impacts; Amazon; Canaã dos Carajás