Water: Sustainable Irrigation or a basis for Existing? The speeches in the dispute for hegemony in the Cerrado of Bahia
Water, Cerrado, Discourse Theory, Hegemony
With the contribution of the Political Theory of Discourse by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, the present research project seeks to analyze the dispute for hegemony in the discourses on access, control and use of water in western Bahia from three matrices of narratives and practices discursive: agribusiness, water defense organizations and the Cerrado and the State. Historically, the Cerrado of Bahia was occupied by populations that maintained traditional systems for the extraction of native fruits and the release of cattle in areas of common use, the Generals. The installation of modernization of agriculture in the region, starting in the 1970s, began a profound agrarian, social, cultural, economic and environmental reconfiguration, which has been accentuated in the 21st century with the exponential advance of deforestation and the withdrawal of waters superficial and underground by agribusiness, and which has active participation and cooperation from the State, especially from the governments of the State of Bahia. These processes have the consequences of profound socio-environmental impacts, accompanied by the intensification of new conflicts, in which water is a central element of dispute. Thus, from the political analysis of the narratives and interpretative landmarks of the discourses in the dispute for hegemony, it is proposed to investigate how the different actors build their socio-political identities and their perceptions around water, a nodal point that antagonistically articulates demands, meanings and knowledge . To carry out the analysis of the proposed speeches, the research will be supported by the post-structuralist approach to Discourse Theory and the methodological model of frame analysis.