Citizenship projects: an understanding of initiatives of social participation in a São Paulo slum

Author(s)

Liandra Ribeiro

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Psicologia (IP/SBD)
• Defense date: 2008-09-12

Examining board members

Paulo de Salles Oliveira; Ianni Regia Scarcelli; Maria Lucia Carvalho da Silva

• Advisor: Paulo de Salles Oliveira

Abstract

This study investigates the interactions of Estrela do Norte slum residents in an attempt to understand their way of life. The research conducted in this slum, nested in the south area of Sao Paulo city, offers us the opportunity to understand how their residents perceive themselves in the construction process of their community, and how this process affects their own identity as citizens. It reflects on the local residents experiences and the feeling of social belonging that had emerged within the cultural web such lives are immersed. This study describes the path in which the notion of citizenship emerges as a crucial element of social identity as a result of the activities organized while building their social public space. The sharing of this public space builds the principles of ethics and solidarity, regains and redefines the residents\' personal relationships within the community. This process gives a new political self-identity to the slum residents by enabling them to assume a special political and social-psychological status. (AU)