Modo de vida e identidade na periferia de Belém

Abstract

This work intends to report the way of life and the identity building process of those who live in an "occupation area", started approximately 20 years ago - called "Rua Maranhão" - in the Terra Firme neighborhood, Belém-PA. This stretch was chosen for breaking the urban layout tending to the relative "isolation" of the slums in metropolitan regions. Located near the center of the city, this street shares the physical space with a neighborhood of different social segments, which suggests evidence of a social border with a territorial counterpart, facts that are externalized in the street's nickname (Vila dos Pretos) and in the marked differences of access to basic public services. This research used the questionnaire technique to gather data about material conditions and life histories, as well as the analysis of social memory for the perception of their vision about the representations of themselves as individuals who build and suffer the social context in which they live. A survey was carried out in 24 households, representing a total of 149 people. It was registered that "Rua Maranhão" displays a diversified profile, although there are many residents from the state of Maranhão. Approximately 50% of the residents are migrants from the interior of Pará and from other states in the North-Northeast region. Regarding their ethnic/racial self-definition there is a disparity between the interviewer's perception and that of the villagers. This lack of agreement reveals a similar situation found in the surveys carried out by the IBGE, which tends to classify a large part of the Brazilian population as 'brown'. Moreover, the graphic demo composition of Maranhão Street also demonstrates the racial/ethnic 'dissolution' in face of a rural-urban migration situation, which has been occurring with marked frequency in the Brazilian Amazon during the last 30 years.