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“Not even a millimeter more” An analysis of Brazil’s government’s discourse on Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and possible consequences

Kasznar Feghali, Alice LU (2019) In Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science MESM02 20192
LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
Abstract
While environmental change calls for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation, evidence shows that land owned by Indigenous Peoples have much lower rates of deforestation. The federal government in Brazil, however, is taking measures to increase economic benefits of indigenous lands in the Amazon, which could result in weakened IPs’ land rights. In this thesis I analysed Brazil’s president’s statements on indigenous matters and how the narratives and representations he conveys of indigenous peoples and lands allows him to justify the changes his government is proposing to their land rights. I employed a mixed methods approach to analyse Bolsonaro’s discourse, collecting statements made in his Twitter account from August 2018 to August... (More)
While environmental change calls for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation, evidence shows that land owned by Indigenous Peoples have much lower rates of deforestation. The federal government in Brazil, however, is taking measures to increase economic benefits of indigenous lands in the Amazon, which could result in weakened IPs’ land rights. In this thesis I analysed Brazil’s president’s statements on indigenous matters and how the narratives and representations he conveys of indigenous peoples and lands allows him to justify the changes his government is proposing to their land rights. I employed a mixed methods approach to analyse Bolsonaro’s discourse, collecting statements made in his Twitter account from August 2018 to August 2019. I used quantitative methods to give an overview of main topics in Bolsonaro’s posts about IPs, but qualitative analysis was the main method used, based on the critical discourse analysis framework proposed by Fairclough (2010) and on discursive strategies identified by VanDijk, (1993). Results showed that independent of the desirability, feasibility or legality of the proposed measures, in Bolsonaro’s statements Indigenous Peoples tend to be described as a homogeneous group and are generally represented in detrimental ways, while indigenous lands are described as problematic. Bolsonaro’s narrative ignores the legal improvements and safeguards brought by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and tends to draw on
assimilationist narratives and representations of Indigenous Peoples that have been a part of the national imaginary since colonial times. I thus argue that the struggle for the enforcement of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights, besides having a distributional component, also cuts through dimensions of identity and recognition and suggest ways to move forward, such as emphasizing counter-discourses and deconstructing stereotypes through education. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kasznar Feghali, Alice LU
supervisor
organization
course
MESM02 20192
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Sustainability Science, Critical Discourse Analysis, Indigenous Peoples, Amazon, Land Rights, Brazil
publication/series
Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science
report number
2019:044
language
English
id
8997663
date added to LUP
2019-11-19 14:10:53
date last changed
2019-11-19 14:10:53
@misc{8997663,
  abstract     = {{While environmental change calls for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation, evidence shows that land owned by Indigenous Peoples have much lower rates of deforestation. The federal government in Brazil, however, is taking measures to increase economic benefits of indigenous lands in the Amazon, which could result in weakened IPs’ land rights. In this thesis I analysed Brazil’s president’s statements on indigenous matters and how the narratives and representations he conveys of indigenous peoples and lands allows him to justify the changes his government is proposing to their land rights. I employed a mixed methods approach to analyse Bolsonaro’s discourse, collecting statements made in his Twitter account from August 2018 to August 2019. I used quantitative methods to give an overview of main topics in Bolsonaro’s posts about IPs, but qualitative analysis was the main method used, based on the critical discourse analysis framework proposed by Fairclough (2010) and on discursive strategies identified by VanDijk, (1993). Results showed that independent of the desirability, feasibility or legality of the proposed measures, in Bolsonaro’s statements Indigenous Peoples tend to be described as a homogeneous group and are generally represented in detrimental ways, while indigenous lands are described as problematic. Bolsonaro’s narrative ignores the legal improvements and safeguards brought by the Federal Constitution of 1988 and tends to draw on
assimilationist narratives and representations of Indigenous Peoples that have been a part of the national imaginary since colonial times. I thus argue that the struggle for the enforcement of Indigenous Peoples’ land rights, besides having a distributional component, also cuts through dimensions of identity and recognition and suggest ways to move forward, such as emphasizing counter-discourses and deconstructing stereotypes through education.}},
  author       = {{Kasznar Feghali, Alice}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Master Thesis Series in Environmental Studies and Sustainability Science}},
  title        = {{“Not even a millimeter more” An analysis of Brazil’s government’s discourse on Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and possible consequences}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}