Os ecos nas paisagens: o caso dos povoados de Tabuleiro e Cubas, em Conceição do Mato Dentro/ MG.

Abstract

Landscapes are the effect of human labor, which structure, manage and endow space with meanings, often existential. When scrutinized, landscapes talk about ways of life, traditions and ways of relating to nature, in an inseparable amalgam. However, the successive cultural processes that formulate and give value to landscapes undergo inflections that can transmute established meanings, breaking the ways of relating to the environment. This work sought to understand how landscapes are reconfigured and given new meanings, directly reverberating on the ways of life/ traditions of the communities that settled in a given region. Our research focus is on the villages of Tabuleiro and Cubas, located at the base of Serra do Intendente (Southern Espinhaço), in the region of Conceição do Mato Dentro/ MG, whose formation dates back to the 19th century. Both communities are marked by the constant and inseparable interaction between being/living and the natural environment, where becoming has introduced into the landscapes symbols, meanings and ways of living linked to traditions, expressions, spiritualities and cultural objects that are operated by the human community. Kept in relative isolation, due to the economic decline caused by the scarcity of colonial mines, and precarious access, the villages maintained their ways of life and landscapes practically crystallized, until the end of the 20th century, when the first highways were opened and the villages were “rediscovered” by city dwellers. This event culminates, at the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century, in the intensification of tourism and the consequent creation of two overlapping Protected Areas, the Tabuleiro Municipal Natural Park and the Serra do Intendente State Park, which are neighboring the communities. The central point of the methodology strategy of this work is the construction and analysis of the Tabuleiro and Cubas landscapes from the perspective of local residents. To achieve this, it was necessary for the researcher to dive into the communities, in a continuous process of listening/analyzing the narratives brought by community members. Throughout the studies, it was found that the communities, despite being close and interconnected, are experiencing different moments in the redefinition and reorganization of their Landscapes, with different conflicts and ways of resisting being identified. Tabuleiro, as it is the main entry point to the Protected Areas, is experiencing a more accelerated process of landscape transformation, with the insertion of external agents and new interests in the territory. Cubas, more isolated and with a smaller tourist flow, follows the transformations more slowly, and tries to shield itself, in its own way, from the changes that are to come. Our results showed that the inflection point, provided by the increase in tourism and the insertion of Protected Areas, will give new meaning to the Landscapes, introducing new values to the symbols and objects built by local communities, over time, which will generate adaptations and resistance. Finally, we will point out the opening process as an alternative to the coexistence of traditional meanings and the resignifications attributed to the environment, on a path towards the construction of more fair, collective and representative landscapes.