Conflitti socio-ambientali “orizzontali”: gli “indiretti” e la Reserva Extrativista Quilombo do Frechal (Maranhão)

Based on an ethnographic research conducted in the Reserva Extrativista Quilombo do Frechal (Maranhão, Brazil) in 2006, this paper proposes an anthropological analysis of the conflicts emerged after the institution of this “socio-environmentalist” protected area. The creation of the reserve, inhabited by a community of Amazonian descendants of African slaves (quilombolas), put an end to a long period of fight against a local nester. Meanwhile, it unexpectedly laid the basis for new forms of conflict between Frechal and the people remained out of the borders of reserve and without any right of access to natural resources of that area. This case-study underlines the importance of focusing the attention not only on classic “vertical” socio-environmental conflicts over the use of the natural environment between local communities and states or enterprises but also on “horizontal” ones, involving local communities that share the same socio-economic status. At the same time, this paper highlights the relevance of considering the social dynamics that occur not only inside a protected area, but also outside of it, by taking into account the consequences of its presence in the wider municipal context. This contribution will show how the political dimension of this conflict cannot be completely understood without considering the complex sedimentation of different conceptions of appropriation of nature and the customary rules of use of the forest.