Um olhar sobe um mundo quase trevas: estudo de caso no Assentamento Imbiras II, no município de Massaranduba, onde não existe energia elétrica

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is the analysis of life conditions in the Imbiras II Settlement, a rural community in Massaranduba county (PB), expropriated by INCRA (National Institute for Agrarian Reform), since 1996, in which there were 64 families living without enjoying the benefit of electric power. These people were waiting for the implantation of an electrification project worked out by CELB (Borborema Power Company), since 1998, which had been promised by many politicians in their various campaigns. Thus we have observed their lifestyle, activities, expectations for the future, and how they relate to public policies. These were the issues approached by a case study carried out between July 1998 and September 2000. We used the participative research method, and applied both written questionnaires and recorded interviews. We chose Antonio Candido´s work Os parceiros do Rio Bonito as a starting point and basis for our theoretical discussions. This work is the result of a research Candido carried out in a rural community and it turned out to be his doctoral thesis. The nature of this study is sociologic and anthropologic, and this is also the nature of the present work. The lack of electric power does not stop the settlers from having access to such mass media resources as television, which they have been using for long, thanks to the battery system. However this does not assure them the gamut of information that may change their routine, mainly insofar as women are concerned. Most of them have a great many children and they do not have the habit of paying regular visits to the doctor, which may prevent a number of diseases. The expectation of the provision of electric power leads some of the settlers to make plans for the future, including the acquisition of tools that will help them in their agricultural activities, as well as household appliances. Though this is an area INCRA itself expropriated, which is supposed to provide the settlers with orientation regarding the best planting methods available, there is no such a thing: INCRA is not supportive at all, and as a result these settlers did not become aware of an opportunity available to them of making a loan from Banco do Nordeste do Brasil, which would make it possible for them to buy the furniture and electrical appliances they needed so badly. The results will not surprise anyone who is aware of the situation of the peasantry in Brazil, particularly those from Northeast Brazil, but they point out such hardships that will anguish and encourage one to try and find alternatives, particularly because those who are supposed to do so do not care to do what they ought to. The inevitable conclusion is that expropriation alone will not work in the least; if the peasants are not given the conditions that will assure them full productivity and citizenship.