Patriots of the BR-163: resentments, nostalgia, and the humiliation of the law on the frontier

Abstract

This article discusses the relationship between development policies, the production of imagined communities and political confrontations, taking as its object of analysis the emotional dynamics present in the accounts of inhabitants of the BR-163 highway region (Pará, Legal Amazon, Brazil) in contentious situations with state authorities. The analysis is based on ethnographical findings, publications of inhabitants’ stories, newspaper reports and in-depth interviews with self-styled pioneers, settlers, rural producers, small farmers, traders, entrepreneurs, miners, and loggers. Based on a dialogue with theories of emotions, development, and social mobilizations, I describe how emotional dynamics linked to the idea of conquering “frontiers” have shaped a social memory shaped by structural nostalgia and resentments. These were interwoven with feelings such as: courage of the pioneers in the face of the fear of the backlands and the hope of progress; humility, pride, anger, and revolt of the “people” when faced with various forms of abandonment, cowardice and humiliation by the government and the law. I argue that these resentments and nostalgias have motivated a growing adherence, by heterogeneous social groups recently gathered under the category of patriots, to the extreme right and to violent conflicts against norms and public policies for environmental regulation and the redistribution of public lands. Therefore, the aim of this work is to contribute to understanding how these patriots believe in what they say and do, and their political motivations. I argue that emotions related to violent political confrontations are useful analytical tools for anthropological reflexivity about our “repugnant others”.