Par-delà le désastre

This article describes and analyzes the climate of uncertainty in a fishing community after a mining dam broke and spilled its sludge into the Rio doce River (Brazil). This uncertainty stems including from the dissemination of contradictory results between, on the one hand, corporate science aimed a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Juliette Woitchik
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Société d'Anthropologie des Connaissances 2022-12-01
Series:Revue d'anthropologie des connaissances
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rac/28775
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Summary:This article describes and analyzes the climate of uncertainty in a fishing community after a mining dam broke and spilled its sludge into the Rio doce River (Brazil). This uncertainty stems including from the dissemination of contradictory results between, on the one hand, corporate science aimed at minimizing the mine's responsibility and, on the other, science supported by civil society advocates. Disempowered about the risks of eating fish, local people develop their own expertise on contamination, using the clues and techniques at their disposal. We show that the lack of resolution of these controversies gives them room to maneuver and a space for resistance against a world imposed on them from outside. The article finally proposes a dense definition of contamination, going beyond its scientific definition to understand more fully the “contaminated situation”, experienced as such by the inhabitants.
ISSN:1760-5393