The Amazon Beyond the Forests, Rivers and Schools: Social Representations and Environmental Problems

Abstract

The Amazon has historically been represented as a terrestrial paradise in social imaginaries. However, over recent decades, it has been converted into a complex subject with a number of dilemmas to be solved. This study sought to gain an insight into the social representations of environmental problems and the impacts of these problems on the daily lives of teachers working in Castanhal, the State of Pará, Brazil. It uses a theoretical and methodological framework based on Social Representation Theory and the principles and methods of ethnography. A questionnaire was conducted with 121 teachers and complemented by group discussions and participant observation. The findings show the existence of shared representations formed from the environmental problems experienced on a daily basis by the teachers, such as deforestation and climate change. These representations reaffirm the teachers’ conceptions of nature and the culture and lifestyles of Amazonian populations.

Socioenvironmental conflicts and social representations surrounding mining extractivism at Santurban

“…When interpreting the SR of rural and urban settlers within the framework of the socioenvironmental conflict characterized by the complexity of its social, economic, cultural and environmental components, it was possible to identify the meaning constructed by the stakeholders from their subjectivity when interacting with the territory and the environment 89 , 98 . Additionally, it was concluded that the appreciations that result from intersubjectivity in group exchanges are related to social identity and are transmitted in daily life by means of inherited traditions, expressions, emotions, knowledge and beliefs.…”

Marine Accidents in the Brazilian Amazon: The Problems and Challenges in the Initiatives for Their Prevention Focused on Passenger Ships

“…Technological and economic changes have caused several social impacts in the Amazon region. Some examples are cited by [120], such as the construction of the Trans-Amazonian Highway in 1974, the increase in the price of agricultural products, the implementation of hydroelectric plants, mining activities, and port-related activities. This suggests that new accident prevention projects including the implementation of new technologies or devices, such as those for improving navigation activities, should be evaluated considering the social inequalities in different Amazon regions.…”

Maturidade em inovação sustentável e em responsabilidade social corporativa: implicações no desempenho empresarial

“…In the empirical field, this study deals with a regional reality marked by conflicts related to sustainability, different from other approaches that investigated national or international contexts. The research was carried out in the Amazon Region of Brazil, seeking to verify how economic conflicts are associated with social and environmental demands in their various aspects, as identity constituent elements of their communities' lifestyles (Andrade, 2018).…”