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*Latin American Anthropology Seminar Series* *Room 234, Second Floor, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU* *5 May 2016 | 17:30 - 19:30* *Political Ethics and Social Movements: The Virtues and Vices of a ‘Fishing Scab’* *Luciana Lang* (University of Manchester) My fieldwork took place in a fishing colony situated on a mangrove in the urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Both an inlet to the sea, and a bay formed by a river, the Jequiá mangrove is ontologically ambiguous, encompassing water, mud, crabs, plastic bottles and sewage. In the 1980s, local mobilization to transform this mangrove into a protected area gave rise to conflicts over the ‘ownership’ of this hybrid landscape, as well as over the most ethically appropriate way to protect it. As a result, the movement dried out and the public entrance to the mangrove was eventually locked up, mostly due to high levels of pollution. This paper will trace its political trajectory, attending to the conflicts brought about by contending ethical sensibilities towards the mangrove. Following the trope of ‘order’, I will explore the ethnographic category of pelego, or ‘scab’, used by people from outside the colony to explain the absence of social movement amongst fishermen, to shed light on what different social actors conceive as political. Ethical and political framings produce a mesh of material, conceptual and emotional relations around the mangrove, and as those relations change, so does the mangrove. I shall conclude that being political translates into affecting the relations that constitute the assemblage around the mangrove. For additional information please contact [log in to unmask] ************************************************************* * Anthropology-Matters Mailing List * http://www.anthropologymatters.com * * A postgraduate project comprising online journal, * * online discussions, teaching and research resources * * and international contacts directory. * * To join this list or to look at the archived previous * * messages visit: * * http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/Anthropology-Matters.HTML * * If you have ALREADY subscribed: to send a message to all * * those currently subscribed to the list,just send mail to: * * [log in to unmask] * * * * Enjoyed the mailing list? Why not join the new * * CONTACTS SECTION @ www.anthropologymatters.com * * an international directory of anthropology researchers * * To unsubscribe: please log on to jiscmail.ac.uk, and * * go to the 'Subscriber's corner' page. * * ***************************************************************