Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Structure and agency in development-induced forced migration: the case of Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Population and Environment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper examines how structure and agency interact to shape forced migration outcomes. Specifically, I ask how structural factors such as compensation policies as well as social, financial, and human capital may either foster or constrain migration aspirations and capabilities. I use longitudinal, semi-structured interview data to study forced migration among farmers displaced by the Belo Monte Dam in the Brazilian Amazon. Results from baseline interviews indicate that nearly all community members aspired to purchase rural land in the region and maintain livelihoods as cacao farmers or cattle ranchers. Constraints limiting the ability to attain aspirations included strict requirements on land titles for properties, delays in receiving compensation, rising land prices, and the lack of power to negotiate for better compensation. Despite these constraints, most migrants succeeded in attaining aspirations, as they were able to mobilize resources such as social networks, financial capital, skills, and knowledge. These findings highlight the importance of considering the relationship between structure and agency within forced migration research. I conclude by discussing how the findings may inform resettlement policies for future cases of development- or environment-induced forced migration.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The concepts of social, human, and financial capital are central within sociology. While these are useful concepts for understanding the ways in which access to resources is associated with inequality and various life outcomes, it is important to note that the concepts have been criticized for key weaknesses, including being too conceptually broad or overly simplistic (Bowles and Gintis 1975; Fine 2003).

  2. The locations of households are approximated in order to protect the privacy of respondents.

  3. The 2012 Brazilian real–US dollar exchange rate was approximately 2:1. The median price paid by surveyed households who used their compensation to purchase rural property was R$190,000 and the median property size was 100 hectares.

  4. The median price per hectare paid for land among surveyed households who used their compensation to buy rural property was R$1757, ranging from R$115 to R$10,000. In addition, some properties had high soil quality suitable for growing cacao and other valuable crops, while other properties had low soil quality that could only be used for pasture.

  5. I define a household as a group of individuals (often relatives) who live together and share resources. This correlates with the definition used in the resettlement program, though in some cases the sons of property owners received separate credit payments in addition to their parents’ compensation even if they lived in the same house.

  6. Baseline median land ownership was 45 hectares (ranging from 0 to 600 hectares); median total monthly household income was R$1704 (ranging from R$494 to R$11,008); and the median year the household head migrated to the study area was 1981 (ranging from 1952 to 2003). Five of the household heads were born in the study area.

  7. Seven of the early mover households had migrated prior to the time that baseline household surveys were implemented. For these households, we conducted surveys at the same time as the interviews. The data collected in the household survey referred to their pre-migration conditions.

  8. This study was not designed to examine intra-household power dynamics, though differences in opinion between the male and female household head did emerge in two of the interviews.

  9. Brazil’s Ministério Público is an autonomous body of prosecutors at the federal and state levels whose purpose is to monitor compliance with laws that defend the national heritage as well as social and individual interests, regulate police activity, foster public criminal proceedings, and expedite the provision of public services (Governo do Brasil 2010).

References

  • Adhikari, P. (2013). Conflict-induced displacement, understanding the causes of flight. American Journal of Political Science, 57(1), 82–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alonso, S., & Castro, E. (2005). The process of transformation of rural areas into urban areas in Altamira and its representation. In Small and medium size cities. Lima: Instituto del Bien Comun.

  • Alves, S. A., Nascimento, A. C., & Mesquita, H. A. (2009). Movimento dos Atingidos Por Barragens (MAB): Resistência popular e a construção de um novo modelo energético para o Brasil. Revista Estudos Amazônidas: Fronteiras e Territórios, 1(1), 635–650.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asad, A. L. (2015). Contexts of reception, post-disaster migration, and socioeconomic mobility. Population and Environment, 36, 279–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bakewell, O. (2010). Some reflections on structure and agency in migration theory. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(10), 1689–1708.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Becker, G. S. (2009). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, R., Adger, W. N., Arnell, N. W., Dercon, S., Geddes, A., & Thomas, D. (2011). The effect of environmental change on human migration. Global Environmental Change, 21, S3–S11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1986/2011). The forms of capital. In I. Szeman & T. Kaposy (Eds.), Cultural theory: An anthology (pp. 81–93). Sussex: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1975). The problem with human capital theory—A Marxian critique. The American Economic Review, 65(2), 74–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Browder, J. O., & Godfrey, B. J. (1990). Frontier urbanization in the Brazilian Amazon: A theoretical framework for urban transition. In Yearbook. Conference of Latin Americanist geographers, pp. 56–66.

  • Browder, J. O., & Godfrey, B. J. (1997). Rainforest cities: Urbanization, development, and globalization of the Brazilian Amazon. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carling, J. (2002). Migration in the age of involuntary immobility: Theoretical reflections and Cape Verdean experiences. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 28(1), 5–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carr, E. R. (2005). Placing the environment in migration: Environment, economy, and power in Ghana’s central Region. Environment and Planning, 37(5), 925–946.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S. (2003). Towards a sociology of forced migration and social transformation. Sociology, 37(1), 13–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cernea, M. M., & Mathur, H. M. (Eds.). (2008). Can compensation prevent impoverishment? Reforming resettlement through investments and benefit-sharing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chan, K. W. (2010). The household registration system and migrant labor in China: Notes on a debate. Population and Development Review, 36(2), 357–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatty, D., & Marfleet, P. (2013). Conceptual problems in forced migration. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 32(2), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Comissão Executiva do Plano da Lavoura Cacaueira. (2009). O Estado do Pará e a Produção Brasileira de Cacau. http://www.ceplacpa.gov.br/site/?p=3009. Cited January 10, 2014.

  • Conway, D. (2007). Caribbean transnational migration behaviour: Reconceptualising its ‘strategic flexibility’. Population, Space and Place, 13(6), 415–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta, S., Laplante, B., Meisner, C., Wheeler, D., & Yan, J. (2009). The impact of sea level rise on developing countries: A comparative analysis. Climatic Change, 93(3–4), 379–388.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Haas, H. (2009). Mobility and human development. Human development research paper (HDRP) series, Vol. 1. UNDP.

  • de Haas, H. (2010). Migration transitions: A theoretical and empirical inquiry into the developmental drivers of international migration. In International Migration Institute working paper, Vol. 24, p. 46.

  • Deléchat, C. (2001). International migration dynamics: The role of experience and social networks. Labour, 15(3), 457–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Downing, T. E. (2002). Avoiding new poverty: Mining-induced displacement and resettlement. Minerals and Sustainable Development: Mining. 58.

    Google Scholar 

  • EIA. (2012). Brazil. http://www.eia.gov/cabs/brazil/Full.html. Cited March 17, 2012.

  • Eletrobrás. (2009). Rima Relatório de Impacto Ambiental Aproveitamento Hidrelétrico Belo Monte. Brasilia.

  • Elliott, J. R., Haney, T. J., & Sams-Abiodun, P. (2010). Limits to social capital: Comparing network assistance in two New Orleans neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The Sociological Quarterly, 51(4), 624–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside, P. M. (1984). Brazil’s Amazon settlement schemes: Conflicting objectives and human carrying capacity. Habitat International, 8(1), 45–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fearnside, P. M. (2006). Dams in the Amazon: Belo Monte and Brazil’s hydroelectric development of the Xingu river basin. Environmental Management, 38(1), 16–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2008). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 80–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Findlay, A. M., & Li, F. (1999). Methodological issues in researching migration. The Professional Geographer, 51(1), 50–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fine, B. (2003). Social capital: The World Bank’s fungible friend. Journal of Agrarian Change, 3(4), 586–603.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fussell, E., Sastry, N., & VanLandingham, M. (2010). Race, socioeconomic status, and return migration to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Population and Environment, 31(1–3), 20–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goss, J., & Lindquist, B. (1995). Conceptualizing international labor migration: A structuration perspective. International Migration Review, 29(2), 317–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Governo do Brasil. (2010). Saiba mais sobre o Ministério Público do Brasil. http://www.brasil.gov.br/governo/2010/01/ministerio-publico. Cited August 25, 2015.

  • Gray, C., Frankenberg, E., Gillespie, T., Sumantri, C., & Thomas, D. (2014). Studying displacement after a disaster using large-scale survey methods: Sumatra After the 2004 tsunami. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 104(3), 594–612.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray, C., & Mueller, V. (2012). Natural disasters and population mobility in Bangladesh. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(16), 6000–6005.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groen, J. A., & Polivka, A. E. (2010). Going home after Hurricane Katrina: Determinants of return migration and changes in affected areas. Demography, 47(4), 821–844.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hugo, G. (1996). Environmental concerns and international migration. International Migration Review, 30(1), 105–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L. M. (2005). Migration and environmental hazards. Population and Environment, 26(4), 273–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L. M., Luna, J. K., & Norton, R. M. (2015). Environmental dimensions of migration. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 377–397.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang, S.-S., Cao, Y., & Xi, J. (2011). The short-term impact of involuntary migration in China’s Three Gorges: A prospective study. Social Indicators Research, 101(1), 73–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ICEM. (2010). MRC strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of hydropower on the Mekong mainstream: Summary of the final report, Hanoi, Vietnam.

  • Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. (2015). Pará—Altamira. http://www.cidades.ibge.gov.br/xtras/perfil.php?lang=&codmun=150060&search=para%7Caltamira. Cited April 2, 2015.

  • Jullien, M. (2013). Can DR Congo’s Inga dam project power Africa? http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-24856000. Cited June 9, 2015.

  • Lubkemann, S. (2004). Situating migration in wartime and post-war Mozambique: A critique of ‘forced migration’ research. In S. Szreter & A. Dharmalingam (Eds.), Categories and contexts: Anthropological and historical studies in critical demography (pp. 371–400). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S. (1986). The social organization of Mexican migration to the United States. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 487, 102–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S. (1999). International migration at the dawn of the twenty-first century: The role of the state. Population and Development Review, 25(2), 303–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massey, D. S., & Espana, F. G. (1987). The social process of international migration. Science, 237(4816), 733–738.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministério de Minas e Energia. (2012). Plano Decenal de Expansão De Energia 2021. Brasília.

  • Moran, E. F. (1990). Private and public colonization schemes in Amazonia. In D. Goodman & A. Hall (Eds.), The future of Amazonia: Destruction or sustainable development? (pp. 70–89). New York: St. Martin’s Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Norte Energia, S. A. (2010). Projeto Básico Ambiental da Usina Hidrelétrica Belo Monte.

  • Ozório de Almeida, A. L., & Campari, J. S. (1995). Sustainable settlement in the Brazilian Amazon. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Partridge, W. L. (1993). Successful involuntary resettlement: Lessons from the Costa Rican Arenal hydroelectric plant. In M. M. Cernea & S. E. Guggenheim (Eds.), Anthropological approaches to resettlement: Policy, practice, and theory (pp. 351–374). Boulder: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perz, S. G. (2002). Population growth and net migration in the Brazilian Legal Amazon, 1970–1996. In C. H. Wood & R. Porro (Eds.), Deforestation and land use in the Amazon (pp. 107–129). Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

    Google Scholar 

  • Randell, H. F., & VanWey, L. K. (2014). Networks versus need: Drivers of urban out-migration in the Brazilian Amazon. Population Research and Policy Review, 33(6), 915–936.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richmond, A. H. (1988). Sociological theories of international migration: The case of refugees. Current Sociology, 36(2), 7–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, I., & Vargas-Silva, C. (2013). The economics of forced migration. Journal of Development Studies, 49(6), 772–784.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scudder, T. (2005). The Future of large dams: Dealing with social, environmental, institutional and political costs. London: Earthscan/James & James.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sewell, W. H. (1992). A theory of structure: Duality, agency, and transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98(1), 1–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stark, O., & Bloom, D. E. (1985). The new economics of labour migration. American Economic Review, 75(1), 191–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stark, O., & Lucas, R. E. B. (1988). Migration, remittances, and the family. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 36(3), 465–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, J. E., & Martin, P. L. (2001). Human capital: Migration and rural population change. In B. Gardner & G. Rausser (Eds.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics (Vol. 1, pp. 457–511). New York: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todaro, M. P. (1969). A model of labor migration and urban unemployment in less developed countries. The American Economic Review, 59(1), 138–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Todaro, M. (1980). Internal migration in developing countries: A survey. In R. A. Easterlin (Ed.), Population and economic change in developing countries (pp. 361–402). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turton, D. (2003). Conceptualising forced migration. University of Oxford: RSC working paper, p. 12.

  • Umbuzeiro, A., & Umbuzeiro, U. (2012). Altamira e sua História. Belém, Pará: Ponto Press Ltda.

    Google Scholar 

  • VanWey, L. K., D’Antona, A. O., & Brondizio, E. S. (2007). Household demographic change and land use/land cover change in the Brazilian Amazon. Population and Environment, 28(3), 163–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winters, P., De Janvry, A., & Sadoulet, E. (2001). Family and community networks in Mexico-US migration. Journal of Human Resources, 36(1), 159–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Commission on Dams. (2000). Dams and development: A new framework for decision making. London: World Commission on Dams.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yoder, M. L., & Fuguitt, G. (1979). Urbanization, frontier growth, and population redistribution in Brazil. Luso-Brazilian Review, 16(1), 67–90.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhouri, A., & Oliveira, R. (2007). Desenvolvimento, conflitos sociais e violência no Brasil rural: O case das usinas hidrelétricas. Ambiente & Sociedade, 10(2), 119–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Data collection for this study was supported by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (SES-1434020), a Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development training grant (5T32HD007338-28) from the Population Studies and Training Center (PSTC) at Brown University, and a grant to Leah VanWey from Brown’s Brazil Initiative and Office of Global Engagement. The PSTC receives core support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5R24HD041020-14). I thank the three anonymous reviewers as well as Leah VanWey, Clark Gray, Michael White, David Lindstrom, Tania Jenkins, and Andrew Fenelon for helpful comments on earlier versions of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Population Studies and Training Center, Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University, Box 1916, Maxcy Hall, 108 George Street, Providence, RI, 02912, USA

    Heather Randell

Authors
  1. Heather Randell
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather Randell.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Randell, H. Structure and agency in development-induced forced migration: the case of Brazil’s Belo Monte Dam. Popul Environ 37, 265–287 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-015-0245-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11111-015-0245-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation