Banca de DEFESA: LIGIA SCARPA BENSADON

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : LIGIA SCARPA BENSADON
DATE: 25/08/2026
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: CPDA/UFRRJ
TITLE:

 

 

 

Processes of environmentalization of land use: practices, conflicts, and modes of Valuation in the Niterói-RJ Coastal Region

KEY WORDS:

 

 

environmentalization; socio-environmental conflicts; pragmatic sociology; public problems; Niterói-RJ

PAGES: 345
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Sociologia
SUBÁREA: Outras Sociologias Específicas
SUMMARY:

 

 

This thesis investigates, from a pragmatic perspective, the different ways in which conflicts and practices related to land use in the Oceanic Region of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, are currently shaped by discourses, controversies, and modes of valuation associated with the so-called "environmental issue" in its various forms of construction as a public problem. The theoretical framework is primarily informed by the work of anthropologist José Sérgio Leite Lopes on the environmentalization of social conflicts. It also engages with contributions from pragmatic sociology concerning environmental valuation, examining both its relationship to different modes of practical engagement and coordination among different agents and materialities, as well as the construction and legitimation of public grammars of valuation that invoke environmental concerns in different ways. The empirical focus of the study is the Oceanic Region of the municipality of Niterói, in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Since the 1970s, this area has undergone an intensification of urbanization, accompanied by the emergence of numerous land-use conflicts. The establishment of the Serra da Tiririca State Park (Parque Estadual da Serra da Tiririca – PESET) represents a significant milestone in the environmentalization of these conflicts. The research adopts an ethnographic approach, combining participant observation, document analysis, literature review, and semi-structured interviews with relevant social and political actors. Land-use conflicts in the region were initially examined through an ethnographic investigation of the public consultation process concerning the revision of Niterói's Urban Planning Law, conducted between 2023 and 2024. This first phase of fieldwork subsequently led to an in-depth analysis of two problematic situations located in the neighborhoods of Camboinhas and Engenho do Mato. The first concerns conflicts surrounding the protection of an archaeological site (a sambaqui, or shell mound) threatened by an urban development project aimed at high-income residents. The second examines the trajectory of a family simultaneously affected by land-use transformations resulting from urban expansion and the establishment of PESET. The findings reveal a plurality of forms of environmental valuation and qualification that permeate ongoing land-use conflicts in the Oceanic Region, including: (i) the environment as a financial asset to be incorporated into the real estate market; (ii) the environment as a public good to be protected through state policies; (iii) the environment as a vital space essential to the production and reproduction of sustainable ways of life; and (iv) the environment as the common heritage of humanity, as exemplified by archaeological sites. These different forms of environmental valuation emerge within conflict configurations characterized by significant dynamism and power asymmetries. Under such conditions, the claims of socially marginalized groups to land rights are not always successfully legitimized through the public language of environmental valuation.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interna - 1432841 - CLAUDIA JOB SCHMITT
Interna - ***.209.648-** - LEONILDE SERVOLO DE MEDEIROS - UFRRJ
Interna - 1550345 - MARIA DE FATIMA FERREIRA PORTILHO
Externo à Instituição - FABIO REIS MOTA - UFF
Externa à Instituição - LUCIANA CORREA DO LAGO - UFRJ