Search

This article explores how the Aikanã, speakers of an isolate language, who live in the south-eastern Amazon, in the Brazilian State of Rondônia, make sense of the drastic transformations brought about by the colonisation of this region. Through an analysis of Aikanã narratives and life histories, the article highlights how Aikanã social memory gives meaning to experiences of contact, land loss and environmental destruction. It will contemplate the temporal markers, i.e. periodisations that occur in narratives and life histories and that delineate Aikanã historicity. These temporal markers refer predominantly to an experienced past between the beginning of the 20th century and the present, from a distant period of displacement from their traditional territory and the severe loss of human lives to the transformation of the forest into pastures for cattle and soy. In this vein, temporal markers are also anchored in space, unveiling sentiments of nostalgia and ecological grief for a past fertility of social life, interconnected with the fertility of the more-than-human world of the lost forest. Exploring Aikanã narrativity and its operation in the construction of social memory, the article aims to contribute to contemporary debates on Amazonian historicities, as well as to the theoretical and political role of Amazonian socialities in face of the current environmental crisis.

The article presents the result of an investigation and explains the current problems of the construction of a fertilizer plant in the bay of Topolobampo, Sinaloa, established by Gas y Petroquímica de Occidente, a Mexican subsidiary of the Swiss-German Holding Proman, which will generate anhydrous ammonia as a fertilizer input, and therefore, the need to implement real protection based on public policies focused on the preservation of the bay, which is a Ramsar site. The construction of the plant began in 2014; forging confrontations with residents canceling its construction. Therefore, we detail the impacts in case of construction of the plant, proposing protection of the bay based on public policies for the benefit of the site. Keywords: Fertilizers, ammonia, Ramsar, environmental destruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the relationship between capitalism and environmental destruction, a critical perspective. The objective was to demonstrate the specific relationship between human beings and nature established in capitalist society and its destructive effects, compared with other contradictions of capitalism and the future possibilities. The capitalist mode of production is the key element to understand the process of environmental destruction in modern society, especially in its dynamic marked by the reproduction of capital. Ideologies aimed at solving the environmental problem within capitalism are discarded because of this specific characteristic of capitalism. Environmental destruction is one of the contradictions of capitalism and can become the most important, promoting the end of capitalism or of humanity. However, the end of capitalism is not without human action and it is this that determines what will replace it. This highlights our responsibility in shaping the future of humanity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses Leslie Marmon Silko’s novel Gardens in the Dunes based on the theoretical framework of ecocriticism, a current of literary criticism that, in face of the world environmental crisis today, seeks for models of thought and practice that emphasize the close relationship between humans and the natural world. Thus, the article foregrounds the Amerindian worldview, whose main pillars are based on the environmentally just cohabitation and the distributive balance of social and ethnic groups and regions.In this novel, Silko invites readers to approach marginalized, destitute people, living in environmentally and socially problematic areas, intending thereby to denounce the oppression of indigenous peoples and the excessive consumption of goods that characterizes our time. Alternatively, the author presents experiences and symbols that celebrate inclusion, diversity and plurality.

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)