“Contradictions Amidst Tradition”: The Creation Process in the Xingu River Extractive Reserve, Terra do Meio [Midland] Region, Pará State, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the creation processes of Rio Xingu RESEX and the preparation of its Management Plan, highlighting how the assimilation and repercussion of these processes by local riverside families was achieved. The methodology was based on the application of semi-structured interviews, transcription of the same, direct and participant observation with hiking in the areas of use of the families. The use of narratives was chosen because they represent more faithfully the views and reality experienced by the interlocutors. In this particular case, the creation of the conservation unit contributed to modify the riverside land usurpation condition by land grabbers and farmers, however, assimilation difficulties were observed on the locals, on the new environment established by the creation of the RESEX and about some rules in its Management Plan, due, mainly, from the imposition of normsrelated to traditional practices adopted by the families, which influenced in the non-compliance or the feeling of having the right to not comply with the established rules, changes in social relations and outsourcing conflicts. This impact is assigned, above all, to how fast the creation of the protection area was conducted, flaws in methodological process of building the Management Plan, to the passive behavior of the families when consulted, and to the lack of maturity in the dialogue between the reserve inhabitants and institutions involved in the creation process and its management.