Garimpeiros, quando a cobra tá fumando : condições de vida e de trabalho nos garimpos em Roraima (1975-1991)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the working relationships and the living conditions of mines\' workers in Roraima, located in Amazon\'s northern region . In dealing with the dominant discourses we privileged the sorces\' intersection, in particular the workers\' narratives. Through their experiences we tryed to question stereotypes and stigmas, as well as the past, from the experiences and disputes engendered in the present. This perspective of analysis was intentional and its purpose was to focus our study in the sectors and classes that have few opportunities to express their views. Therefore we stand before the complex analysis of an area in dispute in which the researcher\'s own image is placed as an object of reflection. Thus, we seek to demonstrate the subjects and groups with divergent interests vying for the same areas. In this intricate interplay of interests, the miners\' image is forged according to the needs of groups to respond to social pressures, conflicts and disputes. We also discussed the mine\'s structuring as a territory in dispute in which indigenous peoples, along with the organizations and institutions that support them, face an emblematic war against miners and other invaders. In this same area workers also experience the intense exploitation, the poor working conditions and lack of labor rights and public policies. This neglection, in turn, seems to serve to those who are interested in maintaining these working conditions and conflicts that have endured for decades in indigenous areas. The mining experience remodelled these working men and women, constituting themselves as new social subjects who maintain their elusive relationships in a maze of fights and disputes.