Entre o Rural e o Carvão: As Representações Sociais em Candiota, RS Between Rural and Coal: Social Representations in Candiota, RS

Currently in Brazil energy sector is considered str ategic in national programs for poverty eradication. Coal participates with 27% in the ener gy world. In Brazil, represents 5% in the energy and 1,3% in the generation of electricity. I n the Candiot city RS State, it has the largest exploitable deposits of coal in Brazil. Candiota's thermoelectric and coal mine are major employers and economic activities of the city. The rural city production focuses on agriculture that has lost people due to rural exodus caused, among other caus es, by the influence of coal activities. This study aims to identify between dif ferent social actors the social representations of exploitation of coal and how these representatio ns interact with the idea of development, environment and agricultural production. For that, we used the theoretical-methodological 1 Licenciada em Biologia, Mestrando em Desenvolvimento Rural pela UFRGS, Doutoranda no Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Desenvolvimento Rural da UFRGS, Brasil. Contato: vivianecamejop@gmail.com