CULTURE OF SILENCE, NARRATIVES ABOUT PESTICIDES AND CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL ZONES
Culture of Silence, Silences and silencing. Pesticides. Health. Environmental Critical Zones.
The research presented here seeks to open new perspectives for studies on silences and silencing in critical environmental zones. With regard to the theoretical framework, we depart from the Culture of Silence postulated by Paulo Freire (1976, 1983), incorporating the concept and studies of Eni Orlandi (1990, 1995) on the forms of silence in linguistics. We used a variety of methods to analyze the disarticulation of narratives related to the diseases that affect family farmers and workers on large farms that use pesticides. Far from the centers where the main Brazilian media companies are organized and most of the digital influencers live, the environmental and human health problems of communities in the São Francisco Valley make up the case study of this study. In order to map these controversies, we interviewed dozens of professionals from different fields related to pesticides and health problems caused by human exposure to this type of substance, especially in the cities of Juazeiro, Bahia, and Petrolina, Pernambuco. In this context, we seek to develop a new methodology for studies on silences and silencings through content analysis, historical study and interviews with residents of the region, from the perspective that the culture of a population influences the way silencings develop and is part of fundamental interest in the studies of the subject.