ABS279 - Conservationist discourse in zoos: contributions from historical-cultural perspective - Board 25

The Biodiversity Conservation is a recurrent theme in different social spaces. In political, academic or educational spheres, many are the actions aimed at the optimum condition of the natural environment. However, there are also extensive human actions that affect the current environmental crisis, generating tensions and conflicts that pervade the daily lives of citizens. Decisions taken individually or collectively, comprise, in general, different levels and require a more complex view in the dialectical way of overcoming these contradictions. Among the most recognized educational institutions as geared to the conservation, are zoos and aquariums. However, in the Brazilian scenario, there are still few studies that investigate the impact of these institutions to strengthen a culture of conservation. In this proposal, we will focus on the concepts and practices manifested in different discourses involved in educational and communication processes in zoos, as well as their similarities and differences. We investigated three partner institutions (one Spanish and two Brazilian zoos) and interviews with exhibition designers and visitors (family groups), visit recordings, field observations and document analysis have been developed. An analytical framework analytical was created to investigate biodiversity conservation discourse. Data analysis pointed to a connection between discourses displayed in zoo exhibitions and discourses presented by visitors, but also to a gap between visitor and zoo professionals discourses.