População e água nos "Gerais" sanfranciscanos: um estudo etnográfico em Cabeceirinha, Januária, MG

Abstract

This dissertation investigated the relations between rural populations and water in the territory of gerais of the São Francisco river, in the Semiarid region of Minas Gerais. For this, the community of Cabeceirinha, in the municipality of Januária, located in the north of the state, was determined as a study area. The choice of the community was motivated by its location, in the gerais of the São Francisco river, but also by being cross-headed and bathed by the Pandeiros river, one of the last living tributaries of the São Francisco river, in the southernmost part of the Minas Gerais Semiarid. Through an ethnographic study combined with social research techniques, such as open interviews, participant observation, participatory mapping and genealogy, family relationships with the gerais were observed in two seasons: in the water season and in the dry season. It was found that in this territory the communities have adapted to the availability of water sources and wet areas, establishing themselves in places that would allow the cultivation of food and access to the best lands and water sources. The communities also created their own way of supply, associated with common water management. In this social dynamic, women are the protagonists and the water sources are places on the river chosen by each woman for the daily activities of collecting water to drink, cook and clean the house. From the point of view of customary norms and legal restrictions in gerais, the delimitation of protected areas has changed traditional practices of the population and the social groups that have resided in this territory for decades were forced by the legal and conservationist norm to develop new strategies for the use and management of nature resources.