This study employs ethnographic research to investigate the extent to which local governance affects both poverty and natural resources management in the Delta region. The research develops a framework for governance of natural resources to understand the daily practices of different actors within the local context using informal observation and interviews. In applying the framework, the study places emphasis on resources for governance, actors' agency, arrangements of access to resources and governance outcomes in the Delta region. Evidence from the study shows that while the state and corporate actors only contextualise resources in terms of economic value, local actors interprete resources beyond economic value to incorporate symbolic and socio-culturally constructed values linked with historic values. The study also identified relational, routine practices and structural factors which differently shape actors' agency for resources management. The context which shapes different arrangements of access to local resources by actors varies. These arrangements are subject to negotiation, power differences and socio-cultural factors. The findings related to governance outcomes reveal both positive (favourable) and negative (unfavourable) outcomes for the livelihood of different actors. The study concludes by exploring implications for local governance in order to address poverty and enhance optimal resource management in the Delta region.

<p>The issue of women&rsquo / s access to land is a developmental issue. From a fundamental research view point, this study aims to explore the circumstances in which women access land in South Africa. The study examines the inequalities that may arise in the context of land access, land acquisition / land use, activities taking place on land and closely related issues focusing specifically on women in general, and women headed households in particular. The study is based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, occupational groups, education, province of residence and ethnic groups. Bringing together the demographic variables and land related variables, the study captures the structural changes between 2004 and 2007. Using 2004 and 2007 GHS secondary data requested from Statistics South Africa, cross tabulation and bivariate statistical analysis by means of SPSS software was performed. The results obtained indicate that the inequality against women&rsquo / s access to land still persists. Some women have access to land for agricultural purpose but few own it. The findings suggest that a number of factors including age, place of residence, marital status, ethnic group, literacy, educational level, of women are associated with the ability of women to access and acquire land. The sustainable livelihood framework is a theory that guided this study. Diversification is commonly used to prevent time of risks and shocks. In general, the study shows that the proportion of women who had access to land was 16% in 2004. This figure dropped to 14% in 2007.</p>

Africa’s agricultural productivity is the lowest in the world. At the same time the largest proportion of poor people live in rural areas where they are dependent upon agriculture for their survival. Agriculture is thus an essential to consider when fighting poverty. Women make up 70-80 % of the labour force in the agricultural sector and produce about 80% of the food for the household. Women are at the same time dependent upon their husbands for access to agricultural land and financial resources. Despite the important role of agriculture for poverty reduction, the sector continues to lack attention from both governments and international organizations, and the fact that gender discrimination is a cause of poverty is rarely raised.   This thesis aims to investigate, through a field study in Zambia, which conditions and circumstances that create low agricultural productivity, based on how the peasants themselves perceive it. The paper aims to problematize the question of low agricultural productivity by looking at the issue of land access and gender equality. This thesis takes its methodological point of departure in a qualitative ethnographic field study with semi-structured interviews. In order to analyze the peasants situation Sustainable Rural Livelihood has been used as an analytical framework.   The result of this thesis shows that peasants’ productivity mainly is hampered by the fact that they lack access to productive and financial resources. The overall difficult macro-economic situation in Zambia, together with the fact that investments from the government in the agricultural sector and in rural development is small, contributes to a situation that hinders peasants’ opportunities to increase productivity with other means than just working harder. Furthermore, the result shows that women experience gender discrimination in accessing land, credits and education. The difference between men and women is structural and is the result of unequal access to resources, which have given men more power and influence. Hence, women have become dependent upon their husbands to gain access to land and financial resources, implying that women become both vulnerable and isolated. Access to land would strengthen women’s economical dependency and give them the possibility to control the income and investment made in agriculture. / Afrikas jordbruksproduktivitet är lägst i hela världen,.sSamtidigt som den största delen av fattiga människor bor på landsbygden där de är beroende av jordbruket för sin överlevnad. Jordbruket är därmed en central fråga för att kunna bekämpa fattigdom. Kvinnor utgör 70-80 % av arbetskraften inom jordbrukssektorn och producerar cirka 80 % av maten till familjen. Samtidigt är kvinnor beroende av sina män för tillgång till jordbruksmark och finansiella resurser. Trots jordbrukets viktiga roll för fattigdomsbekämpning fortsätter sektorn att bli åsidosatt av både regeringar och internationella organisationer, samtidigt som bristen på könsdiskriminering som en orsak till fattigdom sällan tas upp.   Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka, genom en fältstudie i Zambia, vilka förhållanden och omständigheter som skapar låg jordbruksproduktivitet, utifrån hur böndernas själva ser på det. Uppsatsen ämnar problematisera frågan om låg jordbruksproduktivitet genom att titta på frågan om tillgång till land och jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män. Uppsatsen har sin metodologiska utgångspunkt i en kvalitativ etnografisk fältstudie med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. För att analysera böndernas situation har Sustainable Rural Livelihood använts som analytiskt ramverk.   Resultatet av denna studie visar att bönders produktivitet framförallt hindras av det faktum att de saknar tillgångar till produktiva och finansiella resurser. Den övergripande svåra makroekonomiska situationen i Zambia, tillsammans med att investeringar från regeringen i jordbrukssektorn och landsbygds utveckling är små, bidrar till en situation som hämmar böndernas möjligheter att öka sin produktivitet på andra sätt än genom att enbart arbeta hårdare. Vidare pekar resultatet av denna studie på att kvinnor upplever könsdiskriminering vad gäller tillgången till land, krediter och utbildning. Skillnaden mellan män och kvinnor  är strukturell och bottnar i en ojämlik tillgång till resurser, vilket gett män mer makt och inflytande. Detta har gjort att kvinnor är i nuläget är beroende av sina män för tillgång till land och finansiella resurser, vilket innebär att de blir både sårbara och isolerade. Tillgång till land skulle stärka kvinnors ekonomiska oberoende och ge dem möjligheten att själva kontrollera intäkterna och investeringarna i jordbruket.

This study explores the importance of culture in Northern in contemporary Aboriginal development. This study interviewed a sample of Lac La Ronge Indian Band members living in the community of Lac La Ronge about their perceptions of two central culture values: northern pimâcihowin (making a living) and mitho-pimâtisiwin (the good life) and its relevance to the LLRIB Band developments. This is significant because northern First Nations have unique local histories and perspectives, and they continue to earn a living and self-sufficiency through traditional ways of living on the land (commercial fishing and trapping, hunting) and adapting new ways to their way of life, such as pursuing training, employment, and business opportunities. Using a methodology called snowball sampling from community contact referrals, nine participants agreed to participate in this study. The questionnaire for this study focused on the interviewees’ perceptions of Cree culture and northern ways of life, pimâtisiwin (life), and whether they thought principles of pimâcihowin (making a living) influenced or should continue to influence LLRIB members and leaders to achieve mitho-pimâtisiwin (the good life). The literature and findings suggest that Cree culture, pimâtisiwin (life) and its connection to the land, and the concept of pimâcihowin (making a living) are still relevant today. Overall, this study suggests that concern for northern Cree pimâtisiwin (life), the land and pimâcihowin (livelihood or making a living), strongly influenced and will likely continue to be important for LLIRB efforts to develop its people and communities thus contributing to their innovative social and developments that blend local values and principles.

A field survey was undertaken in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (Borneo) to assess the extent and practices of Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM), and to measure sediment and mercury flows in the provinces’ rivers. More than forty mining operations were visited in six of the provinces largest river basins during June, July and August of 2008. Based on the survey results, this thesis estimates that 43,000 small-scale gold miners in Central Kalimantan produced 13.3 tonnes of gold in 2008 (426,000 troy ounces - ozt) worth approximately 362 million CAD (based on 2008 international gold price of 850 CAD/ozt). Mercury use was ubiquitous for leaching gold from ores in the province. Approximately 65.3 tonnes was used for this purpose in 2008, with the majority of consumption- 80% by whole-ore amalgamation operations exploiting hard-rock deposits, but producing only 13% of the gold. These estimates have been interpolated using (i) measurements and detailed observations at more than forty ASGM operations surveyed in five different regencies; (ii) numerous interviews with miners, gold shops owners and officials across these regencies; and (iii) mapping of ASGM operations using satellite imagery. Hydraulic mining methods mobilize enormous volumes of sediment and native sediment-bound mercury. Sediment and mercury fluxes associated with ASGM activities were estimated based on a river sediment sampling campaign carried out in conjunction with the ASGM survey, and on subsequent modelling of river sediment transport. On streams and tributaries, mining activities increased sediment transport by factors between 100 and 1500, resulting in a net doubling of sediment loads on large first order river channels, on which the effects of mining are diluted in space and time by channels without mining. Particulate mercury flux sampled on six of Central Kalimantan’s largest river channels averaged 60ng/L ±33%, a high figure relative to most global rivers, despite average suspended sediment concentrations of only 75mg/L ±58%. Based on a hydrological and sediment transport model, 19.4 tonnes of mercury (±30%) transits these river systems annually, dominantly transported as suspended sediment load (95%), with the remaining 5% transported as bedload. Acute mercury exposure by inhalation during the burning of mercury-gold amalgam represents an important health concern at ASGM camps and gold shops. In relation to mercury, sector improvements should focus on eradicating whole ore amalgamation, and open burning of amalgam. Eliminating whole ore amalgamation requires technological improvements at the gold liberation (crushing and milling) and concentration stages of ore processing. Elimination of open-air burning can be achieved through education, and the use of retorts, fumehoods, and mercury re-activation cells– each of these basic technologies provide mercury users with economic incentives by reducing mercury consumption. / Graduate

The principal aim of the study was to investigate the extent and under which conditions does local-level trade in Adansonia digitata, Ziziphus spina-christi and Balanites aegyptiaca fruits contribute to rural development- poverty alleviation- in Rashad of Nuba Mountains, Sudan. Purposive sampling technique was applied to select the 221 household collectors and 62 household traders in 2008/2009. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through several methods including interviews, household survey, market surveys, direct observations, and through literature review. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the production-to-consumption system (PCS) of the three products and to assess their contribution to household income and expenditure. The results indicate that the contribution to total household‟s income was 51%, 42% and 26% for A. digitata, Z. spina-christi and B. aegyptiaca fruits, respectively. The A. digitata fruits case study represents accumulative and subsistence livelihood strategies; while Z. spina-christi and B. aegyptiaca fruits case studies represent a subsistence livelihood strategy for the households. The results also show that the financial returns from local-level trade in the selected NTFPs were negatively affected by different factors related to products markets, base resource, participants‟ attributes, and the political environment under which the products are traded. The study concluded that any assumption regarding the potential of the NTFPs case studies to affect rural development positively depends on the role of the product in financial capital creation and the related accumulative strategy. Thus, attention paid to not assume that all NTFPs have a potential for rural development- push people out of poverty. To promote the local-level trade in the studied NTFPs and influence future direction of their financial returns toward accumulative strategy, interventions and supports (e.g. access to microfinance, capacity building and organization of the actors, market information and resource management) are important. / Das Hauptziel der Studie bestand darin zu untersuchen, in welchem Maße und unter welchen Bedingungen der Handel mit Früchten von Adansonia digitata, Ziziphus spina-christi und Balanites aegyptiaca zur Armutsbekämpfung in Rashad im Gebirge Nuba Mountains, Sudan beiträgt. Das zielgerichtete Probenahmeverfahren wurde eingesetzt, um 221 Sammler und 62 Händler von Haushalten im Zeitraum 2008/2009 auszuwählen. Quantitative und qualitative Daten wurden durch mehrere Methoden erhoben, die Interviews, Haushaltserhebungen, direkte Beobachtungen sowie Literaturanalysen umfassen. Sowohl quantitative als auch qualitative Methoden kamen zum Einsatz, um das System von der Produktion zur Konsumption der drei Produkte zu analysieren und deren Beitrag zu den Einnahmen und Ausgaben der Haushalte zu beurteilen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Beitrag zum Haushaltsgesamteinkommen 51%, 42% bzw. 26% für A. digitata, Z. spina-christi bzw. B. aegyptiaca Früchte betrug. Die A. digitata Früchte-Fallstudie zeigt akkumulations- und eigenbedarfsorientierte Lebensunterhalts- und Erwerbsstrategien; während die Fallstudien zu den Früchten von Z. spina-christi und B. aegyptiaca eine Eigenbedarfs-Lebensunterhaltsstrategie für die Haushalte darstellen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auch, dass die finanzielle Rendite vom Handel auf lokaler Ebene mit ausgewählten NTFP„s (Nichtholzprodukten) durch verschiedene Faktoren negativ beeinflusst wurde, die in Beziehung stehen mit den Märkten für die Erzeugnisse, mit der Ressource Baum, den Einstellungen der Teilnehmer und dem politischen Umfeld, in welchem die Produkte gehandelt wurden. Die Untersuchung legt den Schluss nahe, dass jede Annahme bezüglich des Potentials von NTFP-Fallstudien, die ländliche Entwicklung positiv zu beeinflussen, von der Rolle des Produkts bei der Bildung von Finanzkapital und der damit in Beziehung stehenden akkumulativen Strategie abhängig ist. Somit wird die Aufmerksamkeit darauf gelenkt, dass nicht angenommen werden kann, dass alle NTFP„s ein Potenzial für die ländliche Entwicklung haben, und somit die Menschen aus der Armut herausführen. Den Handel der untersuchten NTFP‟s auf lokaler Ebene zu fördern, und die künftige Richtung des finanziellen Gewinns hinsichtlich akkumulativer Strategie, Interventionen und Hilfeleistungen (z.B. Zugang zu Mikrofinanzen, Kapazitätsaufbau und Organisation von Akteuren, Marktinformationen und Ressourcenmanagement) zu beeinflussen, ist bedeutsam.

Internal labour migration is an important livelihood strategy for poor groups worldwide. <b>Aims and objectives</b> This research aims to answer the question "What is appropriate policy framework to address the health needs of the Indian urban migrants?" The research analyses existing policies and compares policies in arrange of countries that have developed mechanisms to address migrant's health needs. Transferable lessons will be drawn to develop a policy framework to address health needs of Indian migrants. Recommendations to improve the health of urban migrants will be made. <b>Methods</b> The research involves a mixed methods approach - literature review, questionnaire survey, qualitative interviews and site visits to understand successes and challenges in the implementation of migration and health policies in India and other countries. A literature review was conducted to understand the impact of migration - its health outcomes and policies in India and abroad. A pre-tested, interviewer-administered questionnaire survey was conducted using random sampling with 4000 migrants in Nashik to understand their access to health care. In-depth interviews were conducted with policy makers in ministries including health and labour, migrant's organizations and international agencies in India, China, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam to understand the successes and challenges in the implementation of migration and health policies and learn from their experiences. <b>Conclusions</b> Internal migration is rising in India mainly from the scheduled tribes and castes. Lack of migration specific data, state specific programmes/policies linked with state citizenship and lack of federal structures are key challenges to meet the unique needs of Indian migrants. Lessons for India were learnt from other countries included initiating a migration census, introducing a national portable health insurance and a comprehensive 'whole government approach'. Recommendations were made to enable the government to facilitate appropriate policy to improve the health and status of the migrants.

Vast progress has been made in detecting rates of tropical deforestation, yet the relationship between visible patterns of forest change, multi-scalar human processes and the underlying drivers associated with them is poorly understood. Building on satellite imagery, a household livelihood survey and semi-structured interviews, this research scrutinised changes of forest cover from the mid-1990s to 2015 in a municipality located in southeastern Mexico and investigated the proximate causes and underlying drivers of change at the household and community levels. Emerging evidence indicated that, contrary to the persistent narrative of deforestation for the region, forest cover change is highly dynamic including periods of deforestation and forest recovery. Moreover, a close examination of 24 communities showed forest cover gained terrain, while the agricultural frontier retracted. Drawing on a comparison between the household survey and previous analyses, it could be inferred that forest resurgence was produced by the decrease in the farming area and the increase in the abandonment of farming activities by some communities. Associated with the adaptation of households was the development of formal and informal institutions at the community level in response to macro-global forces linked to the implementation of forest conservation strategies, environmental degradation, market liberalization and increased urbanization. Overall, this research adds not only to our understanding of the complexity of land-use and cover change in emerging globalized economies but also exemplifies the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of tropical forest systems, which challenges partial models of deforestation and policies designed to reduce it. The research may be focused on a narrow region of the globe, nevertheless, the insights and recommendation provided may be useful to further forest conservation schemes in other tropical regions.

Cette thèse porte sur l’analyse des formes et des acteurs de l’agriculture urbaine interstitielle dans l’environnement urbain fragmenté, défavorisé et ultra-dense de Metro Manila aux Philippines. La recherche est consacrée à la problématique de l’engagement des familles et des habitants dans les différentes formes d’agriculture intra-urbaine et s’inscrit dans le champ de la Géographie Sociale qui se construit sur l’analyse des pratiques idéelles et matérielles des acteurs vis-à-vis de l’espace. L'échelle de l'habitant est saisie dans la dynamique familiale.L’analyse des dynamiques urbaines et des systèmes d’acteurs engagés permet d’introduire une typologie des formes interstitielles de l’agriculture urbaine dans l’espace métropolitain de Manila : une agriculture urbaine émergente hors-sol, portée par des acteurs organisationnels et des agricultures urbaines familiales de plein champ, spontanées et distinguées en fonction de leur inscription résiduelle ou résurgente dans les dynamiques métropolitaines.En postulant la dimension spatiale intrinsèque et oubliée de la notion d’engagement, la thèse propose une définition en situation, comme prisme d’analyse de l’habiter. La démarche fait émerger l’importance à considérer les pratiques, les objectifs et les projets des familles dans leur engagement en agriculture urbaine. La notion de tactique est mobilisée, en référence aux tactiques quotidiennes de détournement et envisage d’aller à l’encontre des déterminismes de la pauvreté et de restituer la capacité d’être acteur en tant que familles vulnérables. L’enjeu est d’identifier les tactiques d’engagement des familles dans l’agriculture urbaine à partir de leurs pratiques complexes de captation de ressources.Dans un contexte plutôt non-formel, où les ressources matérielles sont faibles, l’engagement des familles et des habitants dans l’agriculture urbaine s’appuie, sur la combinaison de tactiques socio-spatiales, économiques et politiques pour accéder à l’espace et aux autres ressources de l’existence. A partir d’une approche diachronique, les tactiques d’engagement en agriculture urbaine sont déclinées dans les parcours de vie au moment de l’installation de la famille en agriculture urbaine et pour vivre de l’agriculture urbaine dans la ville. L’engagement des familles dans l’agriculture urbaine se caractérise par un « mieux vivre » qui améliore leurs situations de pauvreté et leur qualité de vie, mais ne consolide pas leur Droit à la ville.La méthodologie est qualitative et mobilise une batterie d’outils anthropo-géographiques qui reposent sur un aller-retour entre le terrain et les données récoltées. L’enquête de terrain s’amorce par le repérage des usages agricoles de l’espace métropolitain sur vues aériennes et par l’identification de pratiques d’agriculture urbaine dans un corpus bibliographique dédié à Metro Manila. L’observation directe et l’observation participante sont mobilisées en phase exploratoire pour stabiliser les repérages et accéder aux familles en « terrain sensible ». Des entretiens compréhensifs inspirés du récit de vie sont recueillis par passages répétés avec plusieurs membres de la famille. Des entretiens semi-directifs sont conduits avec des acteurs publics et de la société civile. / This thesis analyzes interstitial urban agriculture through its forms and actors, in the fragmented city of Metro Manila in the Philippines, which is characterized by a wide disadvantaged population and an ultra-dense urban environment. The research problem is to understand the involvement of families and inhabitants in intra-urban agriculture, in the field of Social Geography, which aim is built on analyzing actors’ practices and representations toward the space. The inhabitant scale is seized within the family dynamic.Considering urban dynamics and systems of actors involved allows to introduce a typology of the interstitial forms of urban agriculture in Manila metropolitan area: an emerging aboveground farming carried by “organizational actors” and a spontaneous family open-field urban farming, which is distinguished according to its residual or resurgent position within the metropolitan dynamics.Postulating the intrinsic and forgotten spatial dimension of the notion of involvement, the thesis introduces a situational definition according to dwelling. The approach highlights the importance of considering the families practices, objectives and projects related to their involvement in urban agriculture. The notion of tactics is mobilized referencing to the daily diversionary practices and endeavors to counteract the poverty determinism emphasizing the capacity of being actor as vulnerable families.The challenge is to identify the involvement tactics of family in urban agriculture based on their complex practices to access resources. In a rather non-formal context, where material resources are scarce, the involvement of families and inhabitants in urban agriculture is based on a combination of socio-spatial, economic and political tactics to access the land and other everyday life resources.Using a diachronic approach, involvement tactics of families in urban agriculture are considered within their life pathways pointing both the settlement in urban agriculture as process and the everyday living through urban agriculture in the city. The involvement of families in urban agriculture means a better living, improving both their poverty situations and quality of life, but does not secure their Right to the city.The methodology is qualitative and mobilizes a battery of anthropo-geographic tools relying on round trip between the field and the data collected. The launch of the field survey identifies urban agriculture land use in the metropolitan area on aerial views and urban farming practices quoted in the bibliography. Direct observation and participatory observation are mobilized during the exploratory phase in order to stabilize the detection and to allow the field survey to reach families, living on “sensitive urban areas”. Then, comprehensive interviews inspired from life stories interview method are collected by repeated meeting with the members of the family. Semi-structured interviews are conducted with public and civil society actors.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:33:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 7608406 bytes, checksum: 8ace6c23dc0baa460565d6d8e40d67bd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-07-05 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The central aim of this thesis was to analyze the process of readjustment of the population of São Sebastião do Soberbo, located in the municipality of Santa Cruz do Escalvado on the basin of Upper river Doce/Minas Gerais, affected by the Candonga Hidroelectric Dam (UHE Candonga) and shifted to the resettlement of Nova Soberbo in mid-2003 and early 2004. It was done with emphasis on the limits, the possibilities and the capabilities of the residents in rebuilding their livelihoods about on the event of displacement and resettlement for the new spatiality. Therefore, the analysis presented was based on a case study in 2012 through archival research, participant observation, a structured questionnaire, a method of oral history and photographic resources. In this context, the study addressed the resettled population in three distinct time frames, namely the arrival of the UHE Candonga to São Sebastião do Soberbo, the process of construction and inauguration of the dam with its social, economic and cultural impacts on the order of everyday life and the social deployments of this event over 9 years in the resettlement. The theoretical axis guided itself with a view towards the interpretation of the phenomenon of hydroelectricity as a social event, which changes the daily lives of those who for the first time are faced with large infrastructure projects arising from the promotion of economic and social developments within society. Furthermore, the theory of the forced displacement and resettlement was tested, advocating various changes and breaks in the trajectory of population groups that undergo changes in their traditional ways of life. In general, resettlements are pointed as promoter of social change that implies the need to restructure the individual, family and community life. This restructuring was analyzed from the perspective of the approach towards the livelihoods and on the theory of human agency that highlight the ability of social actors to process experiences and incurring actions and strategies in an attempt to access the tangible and intangible resources in reinventing the ways of survival. The social deployments that occurred under the conditions offered and structured by the entrepreneur, mainly on the basis of the relationships established between the Consórcio Candonga and the residents of resettlement, implied in the constitution of the category dam-affected people. This finding also suggested a more detailed analysis of this social condition whose existence was triggered by the construction of the dam. Reflections on the case study showed definite changes in the forms of social production and reproduction of the residents; and the resettlement, as a possibility for the reconstruction of everyday life, presented itself as a space that marks impossibilities and difficulties in the reestablishment of the previous social relations and living activities in the fabric of new social references erected in the action and intervention of the Cansórcio Candonga. The reflections also showed the many subjective and emotional damages as a result of the feeling of uprootment caused by the impact of the dam, of the limitations of survival in resettlement and of the failure of the entrepreneur to mitigate and compensate for the various losses occurring in the shift from one place to another. And the resettles, when experience this process, forge new elements in their individual and social condition that constitute themselves as dam- affected people who incurring in the struggle for the recognition of their denied rights. Thus, the implementation of the dam reverberated in a profound process of social transformation for those who still live under the impact of the displacement/resettlement and comes into difficulties in appropriation of the new material and immaterial conditions to ensure social readjustment. / O objetivo central desta dissertação foi analisar o processo de readequação da população de São Sebastião do Soberbo, que vive no município de Santa Cruz do Escalvado, na bacia do Alto do rio Doce/Minas Gerais, atingida pela Usina Hidrelétrica Candonga (UHE Candonga) e que foi deslocada para o reassentamento de Nova Soberbo em meados de 2003 e início de 2004. Para tanto, buscou-se enfatizar os limites, as possibilidades e as capacidades dos moradores em recriar seus meios de vida frente ao acontecimento do deslocamento e do reassentamento para o novo espaço. A análise apresentada baseou-se em um estudo de caso realizado em 2012 com a utilização de pesquisa documental, da observação participante, da aplicação de questionários incluindo questões abertas, da história oral, bem como recursos fotográficos. Neste contexto, a pesquisa abordou os reassentados com base em três temporalidades distintas, a saber, a chegada da UHE Candonga a São Sebastião do Soberbo, o processo de construção e de inauguração da Usina com seus impactos sociais, econômicos e culturais na ordem da vida cotidiana e os desdobramentos sociais deste acontecimento ao longo de 9 anos no reassentamento. O eixo teórico considerou a interpretação do fenômeno da construção da barragem enquanto acontecimento social que altera o cotidiano daqueles que, pela primeira vez, se deparam com grandes empreendimentos de infraestrutura que se apresentam como promotores do desenvolvimento econômico e social da sociedade. Utilizou- se também de diferentes abordagens sobre deslocamentos e reassentamentos involuntários que preconizam diversas mudanças e rupturas na trajetória de contingentes populacionais que sofrem alterações nos seus modos de vida tradicionais. Os reassentamentos, em geral, implicam na necessidade de reestruturação da vida individual, familiar e coletiva. Reestruturação esta aqui analisada sob a ótica da abordagem dos meios de vida e sob a teoria da agência humana que destacam a capacidade dos atores sociais de processarem experiências e incorrerem em ações e estratégias na tentativa de acesso a recursos tangíveis e intangíveis na reinvenção das formas de sobrevivência. Os desdobramentos sociais decorrentes das condições oferecidas e estruturadas pelo empreendedor, principalmente, em função das relações estabelecidas com o Consórcio Candonga e a vivência no reassentamento, implicaram na constituição da categoria social atingido por barragem . Esta constatação sugeriu também uma análise mais detalhada desta condição social cuja existência foi desencadeada pela construção da barragem. As reflexões obtidas, a partir deste estudo de caso, apontaram algumas alterações definitivas nas formas de produção e reprodução social dos moradores, e o reassentamento, enquanto possibilidade de reconstrução do cotidiano, apresentou-se como um espaço que marca impossibilidades e dificuldades de reestabelecimentos das anteriores relações sociais e atividades de sustento na tessitura de novas referências sociais erigidas sob a atuação e a intervenção do Consórcio Candonga. Demonstraram, ainda, diversos danos subjetivos e emocionais ocasionados pela sensação de desenraizamento provocados pelo impacto da barragem, pelas limitações de sobrevivência no reassentamento e pelas falhas do empreendedor em mitigar e compensar as diversas perdas ocorridas com a mudança de um lugar a outro. E os reassentados, ao vivenciarem este processo, forjam novos elementos no âmbito da sua condição individual e social constituindo- se em atingidos por barragem que incorrem na luta por reconhecimento de seus direitos denegados. Assim, a implantação da barragem repercutiu em um processo profundo de transformação social para aqueles que ainda vivem sob o impacto do deslocamento/reassentamento e vêm se deparando com dificuldades na apropriação das novas condições materiais e imateriais na garantia da reprodução social.