La maison des périphéries urbaines au Brésil : une institution du commun

• Main Author: Thomas Cortado
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Maison des Science de l'Homme 2020-11-01
• Series: Brésil(s)
• Subjects: urban periphery; public-private; common; autoconstruction; house; Brazil
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/bresils/7726

Based on ethnographic research in a « peripheral subdivision » of Rio de Janeiro, this article replaces the classic interpretation of the interplay between the street and the house with a public-private dichotomy, an approach focused on the « common » – on collective practices and the « relationships » they create. Far from being the individualistic pole of society, the house appears at the centre of practices that generate autonomy and interdependence, linking houses together. On the other hand, the street is defined by a specific logic of collective appropriation marked by the proximity of one house to another, which I call « pragmatics of contiguity ». This leads to mutual aid, and even a real « mutuality of being » between people. In this sense, the relationship between the street and the house differs from the public-private divide.