ELABORATING VIOLENCE IN THE AMAZON: “CONSIDERATION” VERSUS “RIGHTS”

Abstract

Based on the comparison of the speeches of a man and a couple respectively, all small farmers in the region of Altamira, State of Pará, the article focuses on the ways of apprehending violence in situations of land conflicts. The first part presents the elements that these three people associate with violence: attempted intimidation and homicide, shootings and arson, feelings of fear and experience under constant threats. The second part highlights the contrasts between the discourses, both due to the choice of keywords used and the ways in which each person imagines being able to protect themselves: on the one hand, “respect” and “consideration” in interpersonal relationships, seen as the outbreak of violence in the immediate surroundings as a direct consequence of violating this fundamental moral convention; on the other, the protection of “collective rights” through justice, the exercise of power must here obey normative laws and rules, in principle unrelated to any “favor”. To conclude, I seek to show that these differences should not be seen as irreducible oppositions, but rather as poles in tension whose analysis must always take into account the contexts and interlocutors.