COLLECTIVE ACTION IN CONSERVATION UNITS

an examination of the Marine Extractive Reserve of Cururupu/MA

Abstract

This article is an analysis of the collective actions mobilized by community leaders of the Extractive Reserve (Resex) of Cururupu in the state of Maranhão, Brazil, in conjunction with the shared management of the unit mediated by the Deliberative Council presided over by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation
(ICMBio). To interpret these dynamics, we conducted an ethnographic immersion combined with life stories of community leaders and comprehensive interviews with the responsible individuals from the Integrated Management Nucleus (NGI) of ICMBio. We address the discrepancies found in the accounts supported by the "framing theory" (SNOW 2013), the pragmatic approach to collective action (CEFAÏ, 2009), and the moments of proof proposed by Boltanski and Thévenot (1991). We consider that the imagery that shapes local arrangements - between the group and institutions - despite being grounded in endogenous forces, is permeated by past conceptions that indicate the persistence of exclusionary logics perpetuated by the history of socio -spatial
subjugation associated with colonialism. In this territory, we find the struggle for social rights, such as receiving the Defeso Insurance, organizing artisanal fishermen, celebrating agreements and projects, maintaining the actions outlined in the Management Plan, updating the Resident Registry, and monitoring socio -environmental crimes.
Despite the challenges, those involved maintain within their community cultural practices, celebrate their experiences, and build supportive relationships, which facilitate the transformation of oppressive logics rooted in the modern symbolic framework, anchored in racism, patriarchy, and the privatization of the common good, which need to be overcome.