“Morar na ocupação é um ato de resistência!” Cidades no capitalismo e o desamparo de mulheres periféricas desde o território de Passo Fundo-RS

Abstract

This research is situated within the realm of affects that traverse urban spaces, addressing the relationship between neoliberalism and neocolonialism, prevailing systems under capitalism, and their impact on subjectivation processes and socioeconomic inequalities in the lives of Latin American populations, particularly Brazilian peripheral women, examined through the lens of Passo Fundo, a mid-sized city in Rio Grande do Sul. The struggle for land and housing is a constant battleground within the capitalist system, extending across Brazil. According to the study “Essays and Discussions on Brazil’s Housing Deficit” (Santos, 2022), approximately 5.876 million households in Brazil face housing deficits or inadequate living conditions. Passo Fundo mirrors this reality, with around 14,000 people living in urban occupations (Rosângela Borges, GZH Passo Fundo, 2023), accounting for nearly 6.8% of the city’s population, which totals 206,215 inhabitants (IBGE, 2022). Given this sociohistorical process driven by capital dynamics, this research aims to: Investigate how the sociohistorical process of capitalist urban development reflects in subjectivities marked by precarity, mapped through the lived experiences of women in urban occupations in Passo Fundo. Thus, this is a qualitative study grounded in the social cartography method of research-intervention, based on implication analysis and the practical-pragmatic framework of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. To support this work, the research engages with theorists who examine the intersections of capitalism, subjectivity, and territory: from Spósito (1988), Botelho (2002), and Maricato (1996) on urban space production, to Butler (2019), Carlos (2007), Dunker (2015), Rolnik (1985), Rosa (2023), Birman (2023), Safatle (2021), Freud (1926–1929), Gonzalez (2020), and Carneiro (2011) on capital’s effects on identities, existential precarity, and territorialities. At the local level, the analysis focuses on Passo Fundo’s urbanization and its socio-spatial conflicts, drawing on studies by Vanin, Carvalho, and Diniz (eds., 2021) and Ferreto (2014). Additionally, the documentary “Ocupar: mulheres, terra e luta” (Ribeiro, 2023), available on digital platforms, provides empirical evidence of political resistance strategies led by women in urban occupations, highlighting the link between everyday struggles and structural transformations.