Environmental Perceptions, Identity and Belonging of Residents in the Town Cabeço in Brejo Grande/SE in the Face of Floods at the River São Francisco’s Outfall

Abstract

The appropriation of natural resources by Xingó’s hydroelectric power plant caused impacts in the production of fish and rice and brought changes to the river outfall, which led to flooding and extinction of Cabeço’s Village in Brejo Grande/SE. This article aims to analyze the environmental perception, identity and belonging of the residents of that town,  to do so techniques of semi-structured interviews were used. It shows that beyond physical aspects the ways of living has degraded as well, such changes make us realize the symbiotic connection that keeps men and the environment, especially with the river. This binding occurs from the comprehension of its existence and the dependency relationship with the environment, which is intrinsic to their mode of production, due to the same base material. In this article, emphasis is given to the loss of cultural and symbolic references, as well as the loss of kinship networks established in that space, identifying them in the context of the resident’s speech, so that a reflection on strategies created by them to account for the disorder introduced in their personal and social world, those caused by the impact of these environmental changes that hit them. Thus, these residents recur to memories of the past, either individual perspective or the perspective of a collective memory thoroughly attached to the last of their lives by the lack of choices or to decide on their destiny.