Hunger and food contamination in artisanal fishing communities affected by the oil spill off the Brazilian coast

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the experience of hunger among artisanal fishermen and shellfish gatherers in Bahia, Brazil, affected by the oil spill off the Brazilian coast in 2019. This analyticaldescriptive study with a qualitative approach analyzed 10 individual interviews conducted in October 2021 with artisanal fisherwomen and shellfish gatherers in light of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s (2015) hermeneutic perspective. Categories of analysis emerged that dealt with the individual and collective experience of living and working in an environment contaminated by oil and the feelings of fear and doubt arising from the experience of hunger in everyday life, with the consumption of fish and shellfish that taste and smell like oil. This study breaks new ground by proposing an analysis of hunger in the context of this disaster and reinforces the voice and struggle of female fishing workers who felt mobilized to speak out about the right to eat uncontaminated food and have a dignified living and working environment. It also results in reflections on the rapprochement between the ethnographic approach to hunger and ethnotoxicology in situations of major disasters, the understanding of which becomes necessary to overcome the inertia of the state and the lack of protective public policies, especially with the increase in environmental disasters on a larger scale.