SLOW VIOLENCE ABOUT URBAN-RIVERSIDE POPULATIONS: THE CASE OF THE LEITÃO STREAM IN BELO HORIZONTE-MG (1894-1975)

Abstract

The article analyses, based on Rob Nixon's concept of "slow violence", some of the processes that led to the expulsion of the riverside population from the Leitão stream valley in Belo Horizonte between 1894 and 1975. The insertion of the watercourse into the planned layout of the city, which took place during the process of urban evolution of the capital of Minas Gerais, not only led to the removal of the residents from the river lands, but also resulted in profound landscape and ecosystem changes, in which the press and public authorities played a major role in the strategies of social persuasion for the realization of the interventions. From the perspective of Slow Violence, it can be seen that poor environmental management and the forced rupture between the population and the watercourse based on values imposed on society throughout the 20th century have contributed to the erasure of part of the memories of the people who inhabited the valley before the processes that led to their expulsion, and today the land in the valley is among the most highly valued in the city of Belo Horizonte.