The street in movement - urban experiences and social configurations among the homeless population.

Author(s)

Daniel de Lucca Reis Costa

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2007-10-18

Examining board members

Heitor Frúgoli Junior; Cibele Saliba Rizek; Julio Assis Simoes

• Advisor: Heitor Frúgoli Junior

Abstract

This study works from the hypothesis that the homeless population (população de rua) of São Paulo, today considered a problem in terms of its growth and control, has not always been considered in these terms. The study seeks, therefore, to interrogate the sets of relations that define this phenomenon as a social question. This approach is developed through three central perspectives: the historical formation of this population, the political conflicts that surround it and its institutional regulation. To this end, the Foucaultian concept of dispositif is considered as a way of treating this reality as the consequence of dynamic correlations between agents, discourses and institutions, strategically situated in the centre of the city of São Paulo. In chapter one, the history of the appearance of the homeless population as a social question is explored through a series of intertwined trajectories of individuals and organizations directly involved with this issue. In chapter 2, through the analysis of a sequence of five political protests, the study explores the ways in which political rituals expose the public and conflictive dimensions of this phenomenon, as well as the political context in which it is situated, with particular emphasis on the ways in which the National Movement of the Homeless Population (Movimento Nacional da População de Rua) elaborates its discourse in dialogue with other political entities. In the third and last chapter of this study, the homeless population is considered as a management and security problem. This chapter describes some of the components of the network of assistance and protection services offered to the homeless, highlighting among these the importance of the hostel, and exploring, from an ethnographic perspective, the uses of these institutional services. This study considers the definition of the phenomenon of homelessness as a provisional object, the focus of a multitude of urban agencies whose configurations represent the field of reference that this study seeks to explore. (AU)