Citizenship practices, discourses of resilience: looking for a sociological interpretation of forest peoples in the context of COVID-19

Abstract

We aim to analyse and interpret the relationship between practices and discourses around processes related to citizenship and the resilience of forest peoples (ribeirinhos communities) in the context of COVID-19 in the Brazilian Amazon. We intend to analyse the relationship between the local knowledge and ways of life of these peoples and State policies. To do so, we will use the theoretical references of Michel Foucault and Boaventura de Sousa Santos, and decolonial thought, more specifically the Modernity and Coloniality group, to build a critical interpretation of the relationships and conflicts that run through the movements and discourses relating to the struggle and claim for rights. The concepts of forest citizenship and resilience will be central to our reflection, since they encompass the experiences of self-organisation of these populations in coping with and recovering from disasters. However, due to conflicts between different knowledges, our hypothesis suggests that these peoples, although engaged in citizenship practices that promote resilience to COVID-19, seek to obtain rights that may set boundaries to their way of life. Regarding the methodological procedures, we will employ a qualitative approach, subsidised by bibliographic and documentary research, in addition to field research and application of semi-structured interviews with members of the Terra Nova and Tapiira communities, of the Resex Unini, in order to understand their experiences, their social representations, their memories, and, above all, how they self-organise to resort to citizenship practices. (AU)