O panorama das serras: investigando a dimensão política do conceito de paisagem nos conflitos entre mineração e a preservação do patrimônio cultural no Quadrilátero Ferrífero em Minas Gerais.

Abstract

This research arose from questions related to the use of the concept of landscape in the field of preservation of cultural heritage. In this field, landscape approaches have been mostly articulated around aesthetic issues (related to perception) making it difficult to understand its political dimension (related to power). In this sense, the relationship between landscape and power is investigated. It also starts from the proposition that the landscape is the tip of the iceberg from which complex social and spatial processes can be unveiled. It is also argued that the landscape can be understood not only as the result of harmonic interactions between individuals and the environment, but as a result of the conflicting interactions themselves. Aiming to understand the political decisions and social tensions that affect the shaping and transformation of landscapes, the conflicts between mining and the preservation of cultural heritage were analyzed, as well as the resulting field of power, understood as the overlapping of different fields of activity with its respective social actors. One aspect of the adopted methodology that needs to be highlighted is the use of the concepts developed by Pierre Bourdieu, which are very suitable, in our view, for the proposed approach. To proceed with the investigation, the field of preservation of cultural heritage is analyzed, seeking to understand its structure and the social actors. Subsequently, we discuss the concept of landscape in the field of preservation of cultural heritage, seeking to understand the insertion and use of this concept in the field, exploring its approach to the concept of territory. From there, the case of landscapes in mining areas and the power field around conflicts generated by mining projects are analyzed. The specificities of the landscapes in the mining areas are discussed, which, in this understanding, make the manifestations of the social, political and spatial phenomena that create and transform them perceptible. We analyze cases identified in the Quadrilátero Ferrífero in Minas Gerais and, especially, the case of the municipality of Congonhas /MG. The synthesis of the reflections developed in the first stages of work is sought, forming a broader understanding of the field of power resulting from conflicts, witch is characterized by the existence of objective structures (position in the social space) and subjective structures (categories of construction of the meaning of the social world) that shape relations between the social actors.