Of Clouds and Streams, Prophets and Profits: The Political Semiotics of Climate and Water in the Brazilian Northeast

Abstract

The reorganization of the local material order, brought about by economic development efforts in the so-called developing world, is, to a large extent, dependent on how efficient these efforts are in reorganizing the symbolic order. In this transformational process, the creation of new institutions and with them new institutionalized rituals, is a widely employed resource. This research uses sociosemiotic theories to study the transformations of meanings that characterize these moments of social change. I describe, through three case analyses, the major elements of the microphysics of the meaning transformations that take place during institutionalized rituals. On the theoretical side, this research had the purpose of showing how a body of theory, that became known as metapragmatics, can be fruitfully applied to domains broader than verbal communication- in this case the analysis of the key role of institutionalized rituals as arenas in which semiotic transformations enable political change to take place. This research focuses on how economic development efforts bring with them new ways of conceptualizing and making use of the environment. This is particularly relevant in areas in which the climate is seen as a main constraint for development, as in semi-arid