Towards a conceptual understanding of dispossession - Belo Monte and the precarization of the riverine people

Bibliographic Data

ID4153027
AuthorsWeißermel (0000-0002-8755-4625, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, corresponding author), Sören Weißermel
Year2020
Volume23
Issue1
Publication date2020-06-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNovos Cadernos NAEA (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1516-6481 • E-ISSN: 2179-7536
PublisherUniversidade Federal do Para (PUBLISHER • BR)
DOI10.5801/ncn.v23i1.7498
OpenAlexW3033630525
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited10

The construction of the hydroelectric power plant Belo Monte in the Brazilian Amazon displaced thousands of families and caused complex impacts for the affected population. This paper argues that previous studies about dispossession in development contexts have considered both material and immaterial consequences but have not brought these dimensions into a conceptual context. In order to contribute to a deeper analytical knowledge of the mechanisms and multi-level effects of dispossession processes, the paper introduces a perspective on dispossession that focuses on its embeddedness in the symbolic order, its epistemic and ontological dimensions and its psychosocial consequences. Using the example of the affected riverine people, this paper shows that the politics of non-recognition used by the construction consortium caused a process of precarization. This comprised the epistemological dimension, and in turn led to a process of deterritorialization, heavily affecting the riverine people on a psychosocial level

Amazon rainforest · Archaeology · Deterritorialization · Embeddedness · Epistemology · Geography · Hydroelectricity · Population · Psychosocial · Social science · Sociology · Computer Science · Engineering · Hydropower, Displacement, Environmental Impact · Mining and Resource Management · Psychology · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Ecology

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