“Sertão Carioca”: from rurality to environmental conservation in the context of urban expansion in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The expression “sertão carioca” associated with the rurality of the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro has been consolidating itself as a representation of the opposite of the city, sometimes as a mark of resistance, but also as the name proposed by the State for environmental management. In the face of urban expansion, “sertão carioca” appears as its symbolic opposite and as a possibility of environmental preservation where the excesses of urban disturbances can be purified. From sertão carioca “seen by the State” I explore the contradictions of an environmental agenda that thinks about the margin of culture and that is guided by an incomplete understanding of social experiences that are simultaneously urban and rural. I also reflect on the imaginaries that carry interventions of an environmental and agroforestry nature, where ways of imagining the landscape carry representations of the type of residents who inhabit it and towards whom actions are directed. Under the shadow of urban densification, the equation traditional population-conservation units acquires nuances that produce new subjectivities, for which environmental preservation policies are inattentive.

Keywords:
sertão carioca; environment; quilombo; city