Lives in the stretch: the interactions of trecheiros with the environments where they travel

Author(s)

Alexandre Espósito

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Assis. 2018-01-24.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências e Letras. Assis
• Defense date: 2017-12-06
• Advisor: José Sterza Justo

Abstract

The phenomenon of mobility is within the life of the human being. Through it, subjects are able to relate to different environments as they travel through them. There are people who make errant movements, an aimlessly walking on foot or even by bus. They pass through different cities and settle in none because they only transit through them. For different reasons they began to make these errant movements and do not want or cannot stop their walks. These people call themselves trecheiros. The present dissertation consisted in investigating the interactions of the trecheiros with the environment that they travel using ethnography from a perspective situated at the interface of social psychology with urban ecology. The ethnography was made following the process in which the trecheiros disembarked in the city, accompanying them through the streets and establishments until the moment they embarked to another place. Research pointed out that trecheiros get resources using creative speeches to beg, to do temporary jobs and to exchange objects. The objects are mediators for the interaction of the trecheiros with the environments where they transit, using them to habit temporarily the spaces, to protect themselves against climate adversities and to create networks of exchange and information among them, that also coexist and interact with other subjects that inhabit the stretch. In addition, the results showed the survival strategies that the trecheiros use to inhabit territories that can be violent and what kind of violences harms them to inhabit the stretch. Likewise, they pointed out how they change of route according to climatic phenomena, human actions and political decisions. Thus, from these results and discussions, the dissertation presents how the trecheiros interact with the environment where they travel. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 15/15416-3 - Human Ecology and mobility: interactions of wanderers at crossed environments
• Grantee: Alexandre Espósito
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master