In the waters of time

Collective traumas in the transposition of the São Francisco River

Abstract

This article aims to share the experience of the transVERgente University Outreach Program at the University of Pernambuco, which, through a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary team, works with peasant communities that have suffered collective traumas resulting from the implementation of the São Francisco River transposition megaproject. The methodology consists of experience-based reports drawn from outreach research conducted in the “sertão” (backlands) region of the state, employing a counter-colonial phenomenological approach through a cartography inspired by Popular Education. As outcomes, the text highlights the complaint filed with the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office as a pathway toward possible reparations for the collective traumas arising from the invasion of rural territories by the São Francisco River transposition project. It also denounces how the lack of water, the rupture of ties with the land, and the dismantling of collective ways of life affect the mental health of community residents, producing suffering that extends beyond physical displacement, affecting memories, emotions, and trust in social relationships. In reflecting on collective psychosocial trauma and its unfolding effects, the text emphasizes the need to perceive trauma beyond the temporal logic of the law. It is time for higher courts to turn their attention to the impacts on the integral health of communities affected by megaprojects and to interpret these as imprescriptible socio-environmental damages, considering that the timeline of collective traumas does not always coincide with that of the statute of limitations.