MUD-DIRTY COMMUNITIES: FROM DESTRUCTION TO RESIGNIFICATION AND RESISTANCE IN MARIANA/MG, BRAZIL

Abstract

On November 5, 2015, the Fundão dam owned by the mining companies Samarco, Vale and BHP Billiton broke in Mariana/MG (Brazil), destroying communities and contaminating the Rio Doce, being recognized as the biggest socio-environmental catastrophe/crime in Brazil. Our goal in this article is to understand the senses of community built and accessed by those affected before and after the disaster. To this end, we used data collected during different field contacts made by the three authors, which included visits to the affected territories, interviews with those affected, participant observation (events, meetings and others), and recording in a field diary. The results indicate that there is a constant search to try to recreate the feeling of community, which is shown mainly in the maintenance of the bond with the devastated physical space and in the attempt to recreate it in the space where the resettlement will be done.

Keywords:
Community; Social Psychology; Mariana/MG