Bittersweet mining dependency in Minas Gerais towns: Brumadinho and Itabira in perspective

Abstract

This paper analyzes Brumadinho and Itabira, discussing possibilities of overcoming the economic, social, political, and cultural dependency that marks the relationship between their populations and mining. The discussion mobilizes critical studies arising from decolonialism and post-development to analyze extractivism and mining dependency, a relationship of domination that goes beyond the economic field and crosses political and social relationships, as well as the subjectivities of these populations. This qualitative study is marked by the researchers’ involvement with local resistance movements that value other forms of existence in these cities, not dependent on mining. In the results, the problems that the mining activity has brought to these cities are pointed out, as well as possibilities of overcoming this dependency.