The geopoetics of mud: from mangrove swamps to an aesthetic of resistance

Abstract

Based on geopoetics, this article seeks to introduce the more specific concept of geopoetics of mud as a relevant form of an aesthetic analytical approach to the perception of environmental and social stress in the contemporary world. To this end, we sought, in various Brazilian artistic expressions, such as poetry, music, cinema, and visual arts, examples in which the materiality and symbolism of mud are used to reveal poverty and misery that reflect, in a certain way, the mismatch between human beings and the environment. This disconnection is reflected in the meditations of academicians from different areas, such as the doctor and geographer Josué de Castro, the poet and professor Michel Collot, the philosopher Gaston Bachelard, the sinologist Augustin Berque as well as the indigenous thinkers Davi Kopenawa and Ailton Krenak. This reflection on current spaces ends up revealing the racist and colonial burden that still prevails in their organizations and occupations, as Silvio Almeida and Enrique Dussel point out. However, although it is an indication of this violence, we observe that mud has, through the power of artistic expression on its material and symbolic elasticity, political power not only to denounce socio-environmental problems but also to propose resistance and possibilities, which also involve awareness through sensibility and reconciliation of human beings with their environment.