Preamble Narratives and Social Memory - Universidade do Minho

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Collective Mobilization and the Social Memory of Environmental DestructionPedro Gabriel SilvaInside this theoretical triangle, bearing points in common with all the sides, wereHalbwachs’ (1925) proposals on social memory and its use as interpretive tool of humanaction and discourse; Scott’s (1985) ideas on everyday forms of resistance and hidden transcriptsof contention, important to analyze local resistance forms under the Estado Novo’sauthoritarian rule. It was also subject of consideration Fox and Starn’s (1997) idea that,under certain circumstances, namely in rural contexts, collective action do not follow thesame organizational principles, motivations and objectives as urban, labor or new socialmovements do. From the study of rural mobilization in Latin America, these authors proposethe concept that peasant mobilization is often focused on the solution of casuistic problemsand grievances, not forcibly aimed at large scale social or political change.An evident lack of space forbids the thorough scrutiny of all the theoretical modelsused. Therefore, the paper will focus on the theoretical duo that stands out in the conflict’sanalysis frame: the political opportunity structure (POS) and the phenomenological paradigmof environmental perception.POS theory offered an interesting and fairly comprehensive framework for the interpretationof local collective mobilization in Gaia. The model, largely drawn from Tarrow’s(1994) work, allows seeing mobilization as a result of the capacity local actors have tograb emergent political opportunities. It also helps identify and analyze the resources andthe mechanisms of solidarity used by collectives to bolster consensus around the movementand the protest 9 . POS presents a valuable tool to understand how Gaia’s protestersperceived and took the opportunities laid ahead by the 1974 Revolution. The changes inpolitical alignments and the decline of the long established corporate, political and socialelites did not escape the leaders of the anti-mining movement in Gaia, as shown by theirconstant efforts to co-opt newly arrived political and institutional allies 10 .In spite of the POS’s versatility, its structural and mechanistic scope tends to neglectmicro analytical approaches, bypassing the study of cultural and identity elements, as Pollettaand Jasper (2001) noted. Though POS proponents recognize the role of identity in collectivemobilization, they end up turning it into a variable dependent on the structural frame thatcontrols individual and group action. In the case of Gaia’s conflict, identity appears inseparablefrom the social memory of mining in the past and, simultaneously, as an instrument andan expression of mobilization.The collective memories of past environmental depredation gave the adversariesof dredging the factual and symbolic arguments needed to uphold the legitimacy of theprotest and, overall, to attract the solidarity of other villagers. In this sense, identity markedconstantly the claims hoisted by the movement. Such identity statements were not basedmerely on symbolic relationships with the landscape, but also and most strikingly, on theengagements with resources and with the specific modes of production reliant on smallscalefarming.9Solidarity and consensus are, according to Tarrow (1994), the primary constituents of collective action, without which mobilizationcan hardly thrive.10The movement’s main institutional backup came from Belmonte’s Municipal Administrative Commission, Belmonte’s leftwingprogressive MDP party structure, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the State’s Secretary of Agrarian Structuringand the National Environmental Commission.Narratives and social memory: theoretical and methodological approaches272
Collective Mobilization and the Social Memory of Environmental DestructionPedro Gabriel SilvaThe examination of the relationships that bind people to their environment cancontribute to a broader understanding of collective action, especially when mobilizationand protest are motivated by issues concerning the control of ecological resources. In thisscope, environmental anthropology, particularly Ingold and Milton’s phenomenologicalapproach, become useful to study how the perception of the environment and the relationshipsbetween individuals and resources influence protest behavior and shape the repertoiresand vocabularies of contention. In essence, according to these anthropologists, individualattitudes stem from the contact people have had with their world and that very sameexperience guides their future actions and constructs their symbolic reference systems.This viewpoint allows observing the conflict of Gaia in relation to its historical background,setting forth an understanding of current social action in line with past experiences, perceptions,and the ensuing mental elaborations.Ingold and Milton’s proposals also open the way to consider the emotional and identitycomponents of collective mobilization. A feature, as several authors have pointed out(Polletta & Jasper, 2001; Goodwin & Jasper, 2006), was virtually absent from Tarrow’s POSmodel. Closely related to environmental perception, emotions should not be overlookedwhen it comes to analyzing socio-environmental conflicts. The emotional torrent that flowsfrom the quarrel’s rhetoric is just too overwhelming to be underestimated, as these examples,taken from the correspondence exchanged between some contenders and various Stateofficials and organizations show: “I beg you to help us in our moment of painful suffering” 11 ;“they [Dramin] mean to starve us to death by taking away this morsel of land” 12 ; “to take awayfrom us these tiny plots is like leaving us dying here, surrounded by sand and rocks” 13 ; “if thisland was to be destroyed […] dozens of families would be thrown into misery, abandonment,misfortune and famine” 14 . An emotional registry also present when it comes to express identitystatements: “these poor people” 15 ; “[we are such a] tiny little people”, “weak peasants” 16 ;“the most underprivileged” 17 . A register of humility inversely proportional to the opponents’character portrayal as an hegemonic and prepotent entity: the “bogeyman” 18 company madeout of “big landowners, driven by the worst instincts” 19 and working “like a pack of dogs” 20“meaning to drive everybody to starvation” 21 . This emotional registry reinforces the contenders’dramatic tone and becomes even more evident when compared with Dramin’s blunt11Letter sent by a landowner to the State Secretary of Agriculture, 14-11-1974, private archive.12Letter sent by a female landowner to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 16-12-1976, Direction of Industrial Servicesand Geological Resources (DSIRG) archive, folder 797.13Letter sent by a female landowner to the Council of Ministers’ Presidency, 20-2-1978, Câmara Municipal de Belmonte (CMB)archive, box 228.14Petition subscribed by four landowners sent to the Comissão Nacional do Ambiente (CNA), 15-12-1976, private archive.15Letter sent by a female landowner to the Council of Ministers’ Presidency (PCM), 21-2-1978, CMB archive, box 228.16Letter sent by a male Gaia resident to the Prime Minister, Vasco Gonçalves, November 1974, ibid.17Letter sent by a male landowner to the State mining services, 1976, private archive.18 In Portuguese, the expression used was “papão” (bogeyman). Letter sent by a female landowner to the Prime Minister, VascoGonçalves, 10-4-1975, private archive.19Petition subscribed by 29 individuals sent to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 8-12-1976, DSIRG archive, folder 797.20Letter sent by a male Gaia resident to the Prime Minister, Vasco Gonçalves, November 1974, CMB archive, box 228.21Letter sent by a female landowner to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 16-12-1976, DSIRG archive, folder 797.Narratives and social memory: theoretical and methodological approaches273
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Cinematic Landscape and Social Memo
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comprises both remembering and forg
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include important questions related
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Part ICognitive and Emotional Proce
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Narratives and Social Memory from t
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The Lay Historian: How Ordinary Peo
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Cabecinhas, R. & Abadia, L. (eds.)
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Emotional Processes in Elaborating
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Transitional Justice Processes, Sha
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The Past and the Present (re)Visite
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Part IIMedia(ted) Narrativesand Pub
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Hard News Cognitive Shift: from Fac
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Narratives of Death: Journalism and
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Researching Identity Narratives in
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Journalistic Narrative: a Story of
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The Works of Sísifo: Memories and
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Audiovisual Post-colonial Narrative
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The Subject-Matter of Audiovisual H
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Criminal violence in Brazilian movi
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Part IVEthnic, National and Suprana
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Comissões Unitárias de Mulheres d
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