DECARBONIZATION'S NEW FRONTIER: DISCOURSE, TERRITORIAL DISPUTE, AND THE “GREEN” LITHIUM RUSH IN THE JEQUITINHONHA VALLEY, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

Guilherme Generoso Nunes Queiroz

Todos os Trabalhos

Trabalho

DOI

10.29327/9786527226680.1438711

Título do Trabalho

DECARBONIZATION'S NEW FRONTIER: DISCOURSE, TERRITORIAL DISPUTE, AND THE “GREEN” LITHIUM RUSH IN THE JEQUITINHONHA VALLEY, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL

Autores

Guilherme Generoso Nunes Queiroz

Modalidade

IRSA - Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (01/10/2025 a 20/01/2026)

Área temática

IRSA 21 - Energy Transition, Extractivisms, and Territorial Dynamics in Rural Areas

Data de Publicação

06/08/2026

País da Publicação

Brasil

Idioma da Publicação

pt-BR

Página do Trabalho

https://www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1438711-decarbonizations-new-frontier--discourse-territorial-dispute-and-the-green-lithium-rush-in-the-jequitinhonh

ISBN

978-65-272-2668-0

Palavras-Chave

Energy transition, lithium mining, extractivism, discourse analysis, socio-environmental justice.

Resumo

This study critically examines the discursive construction of lithium extraction as “green mining” in the Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais, Brazil, within the framework of the “decarbonization consensus”. Through a qualitative case study and discourse analysis of official documents, corporate communications, and local resistance materials, the research interrogates the mechanisms that legitimize the region's “mineral vocation”. The analysis reveals a tripartite device of legitimation: (i) the production of a “mineral vocation” via spatial-resource isomorphism, converting geological potential into an immutable territorial essence; (ii) the instrumentalization and rigidification of regional identity, transforming it into a symbolic battlefield where hegemonic mining projects are framed as redemption from historical poverty; and (iii) the strategic capture of sustainability language through “environmentalization”, which semantically empties the “energy transition” signifier and systematically silences the material violence inherent in extractivism. The findings demonstrate that “green mining” does not represent a paradigm shift but rather a discursive sophistication of extractivism, where climate urgency is mobilized to legitimize an ecologically predatory and socially exclusive model. This process accelerates territorial commodification, marginalizes alternative land uses and forms of knowledge, and triggers socio-environmental conflicts. Local communities, however, actively resist this narrative by reclaiming their identity and territory, as evidenced in counter-discourses such as “We are the Jequitinhonha Valley, not the Lithium Valley.” The study concludes that the so-called energy transition risks perpetuating, under a new lexicon, longstanding patterns of accumulation by dispossession, highlighting the need to decouple climate responses from unlimited commodification and to center socio-environmental justice in rural territorial dynamics.

Título do Evento: 16th World Congress of Rural Sociology and 64th Congress of the Brazilian Society of Rural Economics, Management and Sociology
Cidade do Evento: Porto Alegre
Título dos Anais do Evento: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA)
Nome da Editora: Even3
Meio de Divulgação: Meio Digital
DOI

Como citar

QUEIROZ, Guilherme Generoso Nunes. DECARBONIZATION'S NEW FRONTIER: DISCOURSE, TERRITORIAL DISPUTE, AND THE “GREEN” LITHIUM RUSH IN THE JEQUITINHONHA VALLEY, MINAS GERAIS, BRAZIL.. In: Anais do 64º Congresso da SOBER e XVI Congresso Mundial de Sociologia Rural (IRSA). Anais...Porto Alegre(RS) UFRGS, 2026. Disponível em: https//www.even3.com.br/anais/sober-irsa2026/1438711-DECARBONIZATIONS-NEW-FRONTIER--DISCOURSE-TERRITORIAL-DISPUTE-AND-THE-GREEN-LITHIUM-RUSH-IN-THE-JEQUITINHONH. Acesso em: 09/09/2026