In this paper I show how people living in a small town in the Brazilian state of Goiás describe the "economic" processes that have been shaping and transforming their lives over recent decades: the gold fever in the 1980"s, the construction of three large hydroelectric plants and the complex relation between this city and the mining company that "created" it. In so doing, I focus on the ideas of movement, passion and fever, looking to demonstrate how such categories relate these processes to other experiences and domains. In pursuing this aim, I also look to establish a counterpoint to the ways through which issues such as the social effects of large development projects or the modernization of "traditional" areas have usually been described in the social sciences.