Claiming flows in contexts of inequality: indigenous peoples of the sertão of Itaparica and the transposition of the São Francisco river

Abstract

This article is part of the debate about the new panorama of the challenges posed to the traditional populations’ livelihoods faced by large infrastructure projects. Based on an ethnography of the processes of negotiation, articulation and resistances of indigenous peoples involved in the process of construction of the East Axis of the Transposition of the São Francisco river, the objective of this article is to discuss how this work causes great instability to the traditional peoples that inhabit the sertão of Itaparica, a region of intense modification caused by the large development projects. The article also seeks to give visibility to the political action of the indigenous peoples from sertão of Itaparica, mainly about the institutional spaces of negotiation about water. It is debated how it is not possible to think about the political action of the indigenous peoples reclaiming the water detached from the claims on the land. This political action is characterized by the association with institutions, non-governmental organizations and other traditional populations, on the one hand, to discuss, press and guarantee the public policies necessary to mitigate impacts and, on the other hand, to participate in the management, evaluation and preservation of the São Francisco River.