City-organization and territory: understanding homeless people’s territoriality from their everyday practices

Abstract

This paper discusses the territorialization of homeless people in the city of Maringá, Paraná, based on everyday practices. We understand space as a previous and inseparable part of the territory, which is formed by social and power relations. In this context, the organization-city is constituted by different territories, in which different groups experience, appropriate, and dispute. Therefore, we assume that the appropriation and experience in a given territory, a process that is known as territorialization, occurs through strategic and tactical practices, in a complex organizational space, the organization-city, which is imbricated in symbols and meanings. We chose the ethnography as the research methodology, which consists of field diaries, semi-structured, and informal interviews. We collected data from April 2018 to May 2019 in the city of Maringá, Paraná. The results of this study revealed that the homeless people in Maringá experience constant deterritorialization and reterritorialization, characterized by uncertainties and subversions since the street territory is marked by their own art of living, intertwined with different types of everyday practices.

Keywords

• território
• territorialização
• práticas
• organização-cidade
• pessoas em situação de rua