Do outro lado do beiradão: a fronteira entre Laranjal do Jari-AP e Monte Dourado-PA

Abstract

The Amazon region has been and continues to be the scene of many encounters and disagreements that have arisen since the Portuguese conquest of these lands, and which have formed spatial, social and cultural boundaries, which also cross the extraction of latex, chestnut and cellulose in this territory. With the Military Dictatorship (1964-1985), the Amazon changed from the traditional perception of classic works that portray it as a “Green Hell” to the modern conception of “El Dourado”, encouraging the installation of large economic projects and the effective occupation of the region by foreigners and migrants. Thus, using the same method as Velho (2009), in comparison to Turner's Thesis of the “March to the West”, a large flow of internal migrations is observed in 20th century Brazil due to this incentive. In this context, we find the Jari Project, which was designed along the lines of the discourse of development and integration of the Brazilian territory, during a dictatorship that sought to take command of a process of modernization and transformation of society through its capitalist development, with the border being an important locus for this progress. Based on these aspects, this work aims to analyze the implementation of this development policy through the Jari Project, on the border between Amapá (Laranjal do Jari) and Pará (Monte Dourado), to understand the socioeconomic impacts on the relationships of the population that lived and lives on this border. Considering that there was no concern for the existing communities or for the changes that would arise from the borders, from the encounters and disagreements, from the contradictions and diversity of social relations marked by different historical and, simultaneously, contemporary times.