From the precariousness and whitening of the territory to the invisibilization of conflicts

existences and resistance experienced by the apanhadoras de flores sempre-vivas communities in Minas Gerais

Abstract

This article aims to understand to what extent the conflicts experienced by the apanhadoras de flores sempre-vivas communities, located in the Serra do Espinhaço Meridional in the regions of the Alto Vale do Jequitinhonha and Northern Minas Gerais, can be interpreted through the lenses of territorial precarization and whitening, as they are prevented from carrying out their labor and extractivist activities under the preservationist discourse associated with the establishment of integral protection conservation units. To substantiate the ongoing debate, we draw on the concepts of territory, territoriality, deterritorialization, coloniality of power, precarization, and whitening of territory, connecting them to the discussion on traditionally occupied lands, their interrelations with environmental policies, and the dynamics, experiences, existences, resistances, and conflicts faced by the apanhadoras de flores sempre-vivas communities in the Espinhaço Meridional region, specifically in the municipalities of Diamantina and Presidente Kubitschek in Minas Gerais. This analysis emphasizes a continuous dialogue between theory and empirical evidence. In this sense, we present the context, experiences, existences, and resistances of the apanhadoras de flores sempre-vivas communities; we clarify the contradictions of environmental policies as a tool for the deterritorialization of traditional communities; and finally, we discuss how these policies resonate in the precarization and whitening of the territories of the apanhadoras de flores sempre-vivas communities.