Between the remnants of colonialism and the insurgence of self-narrative in constructing participatory social maps: towards a land education methodology

Abstract

This article summarizes a social mapping project conducted by the Environmental Education, Communication and Arts Research Group from the Federal University of Mato Grosso. The primary goals of the project were to map the vulnerable social groups of Mato Grosso, and identify the social and environmental conflicts that put them in situations of risk. The conflicts and dilemmas these groups experience are typically caused by land and water disputes. In turn, the disputes can be traced to the continuance of colonialist forms of political, economic and ecological relations implicit in the prevailing model of development in the region. Supported by the reinvention and application of a new methodology for environmental education, namely the social map, the work illustrates the significance of group identities, self-narratives and interpretive frames, and discusses how social mapping might be used in land education to enable the construction of participatory forms of public policy.

Keywords:

• environmental education
• modern colonialism
• post-colonialism
• social mapping
• Brazil

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Erratum

Acknowledgements

To Tom Marcinkowski, Kate McCoy and Alan Reid for the reading, help and patience.

Notes

1. These are black communities and descendants of runaway slaves. They only had their territories and culture recognized recently.

2. It is important to note that extractivism (collecting forest products without killing the ecosystem) came with Chico Mendes’ struggle. He spoke against the notion of property, stating that rubber tappers were able to live without private property, but could continue to maintain their livelihood from common land. After their fight, many extractive reserves were created in Brazilian territories, mainly in the Amazon region.

3. These are communities that move cattle from wetlands during the flood season and return them to pasture in the dry season, following the dynamics of the Araguaia river, northwest of the Mato Grosso wetland region.

4. These are inhabitants of one of the most conserved wetlands of the world, the Pantanal.

5. These communities inhabit a fragile ecosystem region with low hills or slopes (morro), the root of the word morroquiana.

6. Hydropower plants are the main sources of energy in Brazil. Although considered clean, this technology is not socially fair, nor is it environmentally harmless or free of harmful impacts. Generally, people affected by dams are riparian populations, Indigenous, and economically disadvantaged communities, who in having their land acquired by the state or energy company, are displaced to other territories. With their social and environmental dilemmas worsened, these communities have associated with one another, under the banner of those ‘affected by dams’.

7. Siriri, Cururu and Congo Dance are typical dances featured in festivities of Mato Grosso communities.

8. Those from Mimoso, a locality of Pantanal.

9. These are the people who live on the margins of rivers.

10. These are landless communities. Aiming for some quality of life, they often invade non-used lands usually from huge farms.