The emergence of Resistance through Criticality: leisure and tourism in the Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve, Brazil

Abstract Following the initial success of a sustainable tourism programme, the town of Conceição do Mato Dentro, located within the UNESCO Espinhaço Range Biosphere Reserve, in Brazil, changed remarkably after a large iron ore mining project was launched in 2006. Among the changes was the replacement of tourism with mining as the municipality’s priority development policy. The town changed from a quiet and small rural town to a dusty and busy industrial site. Although the communities affected by the mine initially supported the mining project, this research identified emergent and growing dissatisfaction among them. A discourse analysis approach was employed to unveil the seeds of a resistance movement that has been emerging from the social practices to challenge the dominant modernization and neoliberal discourses of development represented by the mining project. It is argued that resistance can be traced back to both the advantages that the previous sustainable tourism programme brought and to the preservation of leisure sites that were previously used for socialization and amusement but are now either off-limits or have been destroyed. Such people are not seen here as ‘host communities’, but tourists. Tourism and leisure experiences performed by people affected by the mine generated a sense of community and solidarity, but its discontinuity had undermined the possibilities of criticism and resistance, as such values were misrepresented in the policy arenas that hosted the debates around the mining project. Despite its importance among community members, leisure has not been used to legitimize the resistance discourses against the mining project. Rather, the resistance speech focused on job creation and the expansion of wealth and income, thus weakening the possibilities of transforming the status quo.摘要：在可持续旅游项目初步取得成功后，坐落于联合国教育、科学及文化组织（UNESCO）埃斯皮尼亚苏山脉生物圈保护区内的巴西孔塞桑杜马托当特鲁镇，于2006年大型铁矿石采矿项目启动后发生了显著变革。其中一项核心变化，便是当地将优先发展政策从旅游业转向矿业，这座曾静谧小巧的乡村小镇，也蜕变为尘土飞扬、喧嚣繁忙的工业据点。尽管受矿业项目影响的社区最初曾支持该工程，但本研究发现，当地民众的不满情绪正逐渐滋生并愈演愈烈。本研究采用话语分析方法，旨在揭露一场反抗运动的萌芽：该运动源于社会实践，旨在挑战以矿业项目为代表的、占据主导地位的现代化与新自由主义发展话语。研究认为，反抗情绪的根源可追溯至两方面：一是此前可持续旅游项目所带来的各项益处，二是民众对原有休闲场所的珍视——这些场所曾作为民众社交与娱乐的空间，如今却要么被禁止进入，要么已遭到破坏。在此语境下，受影响群体并非被视为"东道主社区"，而是被视作游客。受矿业项目波及的民众所拥有的旅游与休闲体验，曾构建起共同体意识与团结纽带，但这种体验的中断却削弱了批评与反抗的可能——因为在围绕矿业项目展开辩论的政策场域中，这些价值观念遭到了曲解。尽管休闲在社区成员中意义重大，但它并未被用于合法化针对矿业项目的反抗话语。相反，反抗言论的重点放在了创造就业、扩大财富与收入上，这反而削弱了变革现状的可能性。