Banca de DEFESA: CAROLINE BOLETTA DE OLIVEIRA AGUIAR

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : CAROLINE BOLETTA DE OLIVEIRA AGUIAR
DATE: 08/02/2024
TIME: 10:30
LOCAL: Sede do CPDA, Av. Pte Vargas 417, sexto andar
TITLE:

The order of the sustainable development discourse and the green lithium

KEY WORDS:

Lithium; Energy Transition; Discourse Analysis. 

PAGES: 178
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Sociologia
SUBÁREA: Sociologia do Desenvolvimento
SUMMARY:

 This research analysed lithium mining for energy transition as a response to the climate crisis and as part of the debate on sustainable development. The aim was to reflect on the construction and characteristics of the hegemonic discourse of lithium mining for energy transition, in its dispute with new counter-hegemonic discursive practices, as part of the narratives on sustainable development. The main motivation for this work was the narrative of the Sigma Lithium company around green lithium and sustainable mining in the Jequitinhonha Valley - Minas Gerais. In order to achieve this goal, the research sought to answer two main questions: i) what are the current proposals for sustainable development, through energy transition, in the field of lithium mining? and what are the projects for society that contest this model? and; ii) what has been the proposal and discursive strategy of the Sigma company and the perception of the surrounding communities and actors? In the first part of this dissertation, I present the current proposals for sustainable development through energy transition in the field of lithium mining and some of the projects that oppose this model. I also discuss the United Nations Organisation's discourse of authority and the political economy of lithium. I then analyse Sigma Lithium's discursive strategy and the perception of the residents who are in the antagonistic camp. In addition to qualitative research, with a bibliographical survey, documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews, our main research methodology was the political discourse analysis proposed by Laclau and Mouffe (2014) and Interpretive Frameworks by Lakoff (2014) and Galván (2012). Sigma stood out among the companies for skilfully articulating the sustainability agenda, building three main narrative axes that are interconnected: gender, finance, and the environment. Also evident was the unification of the discourse of the federal and state governments and the company, and how the processes involving lithium mining have been accelerated and imposed with little or no dialogue with the population. The results of the research also allow us to infer that the UN plays a fundamental role in the narrative strategy of green lithium, and that the discourse of sustainable development has become a discursive formation in which both government institutions, companies, international organisations and Sigma, as well as the antagonistic actors in the territory have the same horizon of objects, and their description, their signifiers, have been naturalised and internalised in such a way that, despite using different discursive strategies, they make up a common objective basis, which is sustainable development. This process contributes to the invisibilisation of domination and weakens the discourse that positions itself as counter-hegemonic.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 387225 - JORGE OSVALDO ROMANO
Interna - 1425152 - FABRINA PONTES FURTADO
Externo à Instituição - BRUNO MILANEZ - UFJF