Creating a Sanctuary in the Rio Doce Basin: Religion, memory and politics in the case of the Rio Doce Pilgrimages
Pilgrimage; religion; politics; memory; collective action
I investigate the Water and Land Pilgrimages of the Rio Doce Basin – hereinafter, Rio Doce Pilgrimages –, as a ritual that is simultaneously religious and political, and which figures as a resistance strategy mobilized by a wide “cebista” social network (organized by the base ecclesial communities, CEBs) in response to the injustices related to the collapse of the tailings dam of Samarco, Vale S. A. and BHP Billiton in Mariana, Minas Gerais. Addressing the itinerant logic of the Pilgrimage, which traverses different dioceses of the Rio Doce Basin, I discuss how this “cebista” collective articulates itself to “making public” along the basin. That is, through observational participation and interviews, I seek to understand how religion and politics are articulated in this ritual to denounce the injustices of the disaster-crime and the threats caused by mining in the territories of Minas Gerais, to announce initiatives for the regeneration of the Rio Doce and conservation of the environment, and to remember the crime, so as not to let it be forgotten. Throughout the thesis, I further analyze this heterogeneous pilgrimage network and the process that structures the performance of the pilgrimage in the streets. Finally, with emphasis on the fifth Rio Doce Pilgrimage that took place in Conceição do Mato Dentro, Minas Gerais, I describe the public performance in the streets, analyzing the ritual walk and the mystical aspects as acts that sacralize the territory and contest the memory of the disaster and the narrative about the consequences of mining for society.