Structure and agency in development-induced forced migration: the case of Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam

Randell, Heather

doi:10.1007/s11111-015-0245-4

Cited by 38 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…While many households were able to utilize networks to find property near friends and family (Randell, 2016), others became isolated after displacement, which contributed to well-being decline. Resettlement programs should assist displaced households in purchasing new property near one another so that they can maintain social support systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The short-term impacts of development-induced displacement on wealth and subjective well-being in the Brazilian Amazon

Randell

2016

World Development

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Summary Displacement due to development projects such as dams, mines, and urban infrastructure often leads to livelihood decline among affected communities. The challenge, therefore, lies in implementing projects that achieve national or regional development goals while also generating positive social and economic outcomes for displaced populations. This paper uses a longitudinal, mixed-methods design to understand the short-term changes in wealth and subjective well-being of households displaced due to construction of the Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian Amazon. The households were compensated by either cash or credit for their lost land and assets, and were then responsible for finding and purchasing new property. Using pre- and post-displacement household survey and semi-structured interview data, as well as data from a small comparison group, I find that wealth increased for the majority of the study population and that socioeconomic inequality decreased, as poorer households experienced greater improvements in housing conditions, assets, and property ownership. In addition, subjective well-being improved for most households, particularly among those who did not own land at baseline, those who gained assets such as vehicles, those who remained closer to the original study area, and those who remained in close proximity to other households from the study population. Moving to an urban destination was strongly associated with declines in well-being, as was moving far from family or friends. These results suggest that investing sufficient resources in a compensation-based resettlement program can benefit households displaced by large infrastructure projects in the short term, but additional data collection is needed after the completion of dam construction to determine whether these benefits are sustained over the longer term.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The short-term impacts of development-induced displacement on wealth and subjective well-being in the Brazilian Amazon

Randell

2016

World Development

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“…Capability and ability are essentially synonyms, and they are often used interchangeably in migration research (Dimitriadi 2017;Jayasuriya 2014;Randell 2016). There are subtle theoretical differences, though, between the two terms and their associated theoretical approaches.…”

Section: Connecting With Capabilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting aspiration and ability in international migration

Carling

Schewel

2017

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies

404

362

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It is a refreshingly simple thought that migration is the combined result of two factors: the aspiration to migrate and the ability to migrate. Without having to resort to overly structural or individualistic explanations, this analytical distinction helps disentangle complex questions around why some people migrate but others do not. Still, aspiration and ability raise their own thorny theoretical and methodological questions. To begin with, what does it mean to have migration aspirations? How can such concepts be objects of empirical research? And is it meaningful to say that individuals possess the ability to migrate if their preference is to stay? The aspiration/ability model was originally proposed in this journal and has since been diversely applied and adapted. In this article, we look back at more than a decade of research to examine a series of theoretical and empirical developments related to the aspiration/ability model and its extensions. We identify two-step approaches as a class of analytical frameworks that share the basic logic of the aspiration/ability model. Covering expansive theoretical, methodological and empirical ground, we seek to lay a foundation for new research on global migration in its diverse forms.

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“…This enterprise is one of the main works of the Growth Acceleration Program carried out by the Federal Government, which justifies it as being strategic for the resumption of economic growth in the country (Chernela, 2010), based on the national security discourse. This fact has significantly altered the agricultural and agrarian conformation and reality within the Territory, culminating in new challenges and opportunities in sight for family farms, which demand new studies, searches for market strategies and supply of information to farmers and technicians inserted in this space (Randell, 2015).…”

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confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Analysis of Rural Credit and Technical Assistance for Family Farmers in the Transamazonian Territory, in the Brazilian Amazon

Filho¹,

Calvi²,

Castro³

2016

JAS

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In Brazil, Rural Credit and Technical Assistance policies for family farming were formulated with the goal of promoting rural development in a sustainable and integrated manner. This study is the result of the Monitoring and assessment of public policies for territory management in the Pará Amazon project, undertaken by the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), aimed to evaluate the main socioeconomic impacts and limitations for the execution of these policies in the Transamazonian Territory. It is characterized as qualitative and exploratory, developed from bibliographic research and field research, based on data obtained through interviews conducted with 22 families of farmers who are beneficiaries of Rural Credit, the B modality of the National Programme for Strengthening Family Agriculture (PRONAF) and of the Technical Assistance Policy, whose sample corresponds to 10% of total contracts made effective within that Territory, between the years of 2013 and 2014. In addition to these farmers, for the analysis of the Technical Assistance service, interviews were conducted with extension workers from eight organizations, one of which is a state public company and seven of which are outsourced companies hired by the Federal Government to provide this service. The descriptive analysis shows that PRONAF B focuses on areas that produce short cycle food crops and on fishing activities. The technical assistance service provided by the public company is carried out in all the cities within the Territory, but only meets 10% of the demand; the service provided by the outsourced companies also occurs in all cities and its greatest setback is the delay in the release of funds by the Federal Government, which generates delays in the agricultural calendar and discontinuity in the productive activities, due to the end of the term of the companies' contracts.

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Structure and agency in development-induced forced migration: the case of Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam

Cited by 38 publications

References 45 publications

The short-term impacts of development-induced displacement on wealth and subjective well-being in the Brazilian Amazon

The short-term impacts of development-induced displacement on wealth and subjective well-being in the Brazilian Amazon

Revisiting aspiration and ability in international migration

Socioeconomic Analysis of Rural Credit and Technical Assistance for Family Farmers in the Transamazonian Territory, in the Brazilian Amazon

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