SANTANA NARRATORS: THE PERCEPTION OF RESIDENTS OF A RURAL COMMUNITY ON THE IMPACTS OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE OITICICA RESERVOIR – JUCURUTU/RN

Abstract

The constructions of reservoirs are imbued with strong ideological discourses, projecting the idea that the gains obtained outweigh the losses of flooding large areas and compulsory transfers of populations to other locations, which, in many cases, have no identity connection with the subjects. From this finding, this work aims to understand the perception of residents about the implementation of the Oiticica reservoir, located in the city of Jucurutu/RN. For this purpose, field visits carried out at different times were necessary, to record images of the studied places, collect information about the enterprise and the community, establish the first contacts with the inhabitants of the population nucleus and apply the interviews, which were recorded and followed a semi-structured script, composed of generative questions. The collected material was analyzed according to the phenomenological method. The results showed that the residents of Barra de Santana, motivated by the discourse "of the need for the reservoir, for water security", consider the project with a benefit, however they emphasize that their rights are in the background, as all the achievements obtained by they came through their own mobilizations, even so, there are still problems to be resolved. This reflects a dual context, as with regard to the parties involved, there is, on the one hand, the government's developmental speech and, on the other, a population divided between the benefits and the impact on their realities.