Revista Critica de Ciencias SociaisEurozineRevista Critica de Ciencias Sociais2013-12-10
Abstracts Revista Critica 100 (2013)Ana Delicado, Luís Silva, Luís Junqueira, Ana Horta, Susana Fonseca and Mónica Truninger
Environment, Landscape, Heritage and the Economy: Conflicts over Wind Farms in Portugal
In recent years the number of wind farms in Portugal has grown exponentially as a result of political and economic pressure to achieve ambitious goals in relation to energy production through renewable sources. At a general level, this development has been marked by a consensual discourse (mitigating climate change, reducing external energy dependence), but at the situated, local level conflicts become visible (visual destruction of the landscape, adverse impacts on rural ecosystems, tourist activities and health). Based on an exploratory case study in the village of Sortelha, this article explores the conflicts over wind power, drawing also on other empirical sources, such as statistical data, environmental impact studies, press articles and blogs.Marcelo Firpo de Souza Porto, Renan Finamore and Hugo Ferreira
Injustices of Sustainability: Environmental Conflicts Related to "Clean" Energy Production in Brazil
This paper discusses the contradictions in the implementation of "clean energy" projects, regarding four cases in the Brazilian context: agrofuels via sugarcane; hydroelectric power plants; wind farms; and, finally, nuclear power. All generate lots of social, environmental and health impacts which frame what we call provocatively the "injustices of sustainability". We consider that environmental conflicts related to these projects are inevitable in market societies, where the hegemonic view of economic development assumed by corporations and often government agencies is challenged by affected populations and social movements. Therefore, we believe that it is strategic to recognize environmental injustices as a way of interconnecting the material bases of sustainability with economic, social, cultural and philosophical issues related to the notion of progress.Micol Maggiolini
Technical Literacy and Transformation in Environmental Conflicts Arising from Large-scale Works. The Case of the New Turin-Lyon Railway
Large-scale public works and the local conflicts that often rise from them offer an interesting chance to analyse the ecological crisis and the evolution of democratic dynamics. Starting from the case of the main Italian local conflict connected with the Turin-Lyon high-speed railway, the article presents an example of technical literacy of the local population promoted by a grassroots movement. It also examines the effect produced on the dynamics of the conflict and its management. The findings show that this learning process has generated a sort of emancipation in citizens, who have increased their ability to interact with counterparts. Finally the paper highlights how the exchange and comparison on a technical level can facilitate the reduction of the conflict, but this is possible only under certain conditions: in their absence the risk of further radicalization appears to be quite real.Marina de Oliveira Penido, Doralice Barros Pereira and Anabelle Lages
Re-existence in the Struggle for Space: An Analysis of the Candonga Hydro-electric Power Station (Zona da Mata Mineira)
This article presents an analysis of the contradictions that have emerged between the Novo Soberbo resettlement, planned by the electricity sector, and the reality of the resettlements affected by the Candonga hydro-electric power station. The contradictions evident in the resettled/resettlement relationship reflect the opposition between two different ways of appropriating and giving meaning to space: on the one hand the technical and economicist rationale of the Candonga Consortium, evident in the concept of the resettlement and its civic structure and, on the other hand, the practices and representations of those affected by it, which are linked to an essentially rural way of life. Resettlement, as a technique to resolve the original impacts of enforced displacement, creates new forms of oppression and threats to the continuity of the lifestyle of those affected. Faced with the disintegration of the settlers' way of life, mass campaigns, resistance and re-existence have all emerged in the struggle to claim space.Caetano De' Carli
The Political Discourse of Agroecology in the MST: The Case of the 17 April Settlement in Eldorado dos Carajás, Pará
This article aims to discuss agroecology as political discourse. It draws on research by Altieri, Nichols, Glisseman, Gúzman and Cristoffoli, amongst others, in order to show the trajectories of agroecology as a science and the attempts to establish agroecology in land reform areas. This is followed by an analysis of agroecology in the political practice of the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra -- Landless Workers' Movement), from model experiments to political discourse to counteract the hegemonic model of the Green Revolution. Finally, it focuses on the case of the 17 April Settlement in Eldorado dos Carajás, emphasising how the political discourse of agroecology represents an important strategy in the MST in terms of a paradigm shift in the mindset of the settlers and local leaders of the movement, highlighting this as a major step towards establishing alternative mixed farming production in land reform areas in Brazil.José M. Atiles-Osoria
Environmental Colonialism, Criminalization and Resistance: Puerto Rican Mobilizations for Environmental Justice in the 21st Century
The struggles for environmental justice have become a fundamental part of Puerto Rican sociopolitical and anticolonial mobilizations since the mid-twentieth century. In the context of this sociopolitical reality, and placing special emphasis on the criminalization processes used by the U.S. in the post 9/11 era, this article develops three analytical lines: 1) a reflection on environmental colonialism in the context of Puerto Rico; 2) an analysis of the mechanisms of criminalization and repression developed by the governments of the U.S. and Puerto Rico; 3) a review of the Puerto Rican socio-environmental conflicts between 1999 and 2012. This will allow me to show the close connection between Puerto Rican environmental and anti-colonial movements, as well as the repressive and criminalization mechanisms deployed against them.Jonas Van Vossole
The Legitimacy Crisis of Global Climate Governance. Combining a Marxist and Polanyian Perspective
This article frames recent problems of the RIO+20 summit, the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference (COP15) and the problems of the carbon markets within a broader legitimacy crisis of global governance, consequence of the crisis of the global capitalist socio-ecology. Two mechanisms give rise to the loss of legitimacy: unequal development and mercantilization, or the reconfiguration of the power balance and the destruction of social ties. As a consequence, both winners and losers contest the legitimacy of the institutions and mechanisms that govern global capitalism. In this article, we distinguish between the Marx-type of contestation, referring to emerging classes/states, and the Polanyi-type of contestation, referring to the victims of global mercantilization. In the case of climate governance, these winners and losers are represented by BRICS in climate negotiations and by the global environmental justice movement.Céline Veríssimo
The Significance of Outdoor Domestic Space to an Ecodevelopment Model of Medium Size Cities. The Case Study of Dondo, Mozambique
In the neighbourhoods of Dondo, the urban environment materialises through the appropriation of the natural environment by society in order to construct its habitat and fulfill its needs in a lasting, balanced manner, because "human participation in nature's processes is the natural condition of human existence" (Schmidt, 1971: 79). In order to resist the dualistic city marginalisation, the external space surrounding the house -- which I call the 'outdoor domestic space' -- is adapted to integrate both farming and businesses, shaping a green and ruralised pattern of urbanisation. Assuming that there is an innate relationship between humanity and nature, industrialisation and the rise of capitalism marks the rupture between 'democracy' and 'ecology'. This paper suggests that it is possible for societies to reassert collaborative practices and self-organisation.Isabel Maria Fernandes Alves
Gardens in the Dunes: Indigenism, nature and power from an ecocritical perpective
This article discusses Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Gardens in the Dunes based on the theoretical framework of ecocriticism, a current of literary criticism that, in face of the world environmental crisis today, seeks for models of thought and practice that emphasize the close relationship between humans and the natural world. Thus, the article foregrounds the Amerindian worldview, whose main pillars are based on the environmentally just cohabitation and the distributive balance of social and ethnic groups and regions.In this novel, Silko invites readers to approach marginalized, destitute people, living in environmentally and socially problematic areas, intending thereby to denounce the oppression of indigenous peoples and the excessive consumption of goods that characterizes our time. Alternatively, the author presents experiences and symbols that celebrate inclusion, diversity and plurality.The full table of contents of Revista Crítica 100 (2013)