Dissertação de Mestrado
Since the colonial period, women have walked the streets of downtown Rio de Janeiro engaging in street vending not only as a means of subsistence but also as a form of resistance, reinvention, and cultural continuity, deeply influencing the socio-spatial dynamics of the city. Despite their significant role, these women remain largely unrecognized as protagonists of public space, which continues to be shaped by patriarchal social constructs that constrain urban thought. This dissertation investigates the legacy of these women — here referred to as “Mulheres Ambulantes” (term used in this research to designate female street vendors whose practices embody resistance and cultural continuity) — from the colonial era to their reverberations in contemporary times, highlighting how their practices produce what bell hooks (2022) calls a culture of place, which strengthens the sense of belonging. The research adopts a methodology based on the corpographic study, which articulates historiographical analysis with the creation of urban corpographies (Britto and Jacques, 2008), allowing for a sensitive approach to these women’s practices and an understanding of the symbolic and territorial reconstruction of the spaces they occupy — both in public open spaces and in domestic environments such as their homes and backyards, understood here as collective spaces. It concludes that, through the relationship between ancestry, labor, and everyday becoming in the public realm, these women affirm their right to be and belong in the urban landscape, fostering sociability among different social groups and actively participating in the socio-spatial construction of the city.
Date: 18/08/2025
Person
- Ana Paula Polizzo
- Lia Maria Gomes Bahia [author]
- liana Mara Pellerano Kuster
- Rubens de Andrade [contributor]
ResearchLine
- Culture, Landscape and Built Environment
Course
- Master of Architecture PROARQ