Suffering and Resistance at the Margins of Work: A Psychodynamic Essay Based on Labor Experiences in the Amazon

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Abstract
Objective: This study analyzes experiences of suffering and resistance at work in Amazonian territories. It seeks to understand how these experiences are narrated and elaborated in research developed within a Graduate Program in Psychology in Northern Brazil. Theoretical Framework: Psychodynamics of Work is used as the basis to understand ethical suffering and resistance mechanisms, articulated with critical and territorial epistemologies. Method: This is a qualitative and documentary research. Fifteen dissertations and theses defended between 2011 and 2024 were analyzed. The interpretative analysis organized the findings into four thematic axes: (1) workers on the margins; (2) centrality of Psychodynamics of Work; (3) methodological listening and suffering; (4) the Amazon as an analytical place. Results and Discussion: The results highlight a situated Psychodynamics of Work, sensitive to symbolic, institutional, and territorial inequalities. Symbolic forms of resistance such as humor, spirituality, collective bonds, and writing as self-care stand out. Ethical suffering emerges as a fracture between the gesture and the value attributed to work. Research Implications: The analyses provide insights for building clinical practices and care policies that are more sensitive to regional diversity and the subjectivity of Amazonian workers. Originality/Value: The study expands the field of Work Psychology by integrating it with Southern epistemologies, proposing a critical and situated listening to labor suffering and resistance in the Amazon.

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