Capital on the frontier: exploring the roots of primitive accumulation in the zone of influence of the Jamanxim National Park, Pará, Brazil

Abstract

The present approach to the primitive accumulation of capital is based on the understanding that this historical social process does not only represent the beginning of the capitalist production model, but its recreation that conditions the expansion of this economic model in an expanded way in contemporary times. This understanding is presented from the conception of frontier as an analytical category, from the point of view of conflicts, expropriations and subjection to the reproduction of capital through the labor force and under the exploratory methodological framework. The aim of this article, therefore, is to demonstrate how the co-optation of the labor force and its operationalization take shape on the frontier of the State of Pará, through activities of exploitation of natural resources extracted, especially from the Jamanxim National Park, in order to highlight the imperative of the primitive accumulation of capital. The main conclusion is that the social actors who own the financial resources and means of production exploit a considerable contingent of marginalized people who have only the labor force and are subject to any conditions for their subsistence.