SOCIABILITIES IN THE PUBLIC PLACE OF A POPULAR NEIGHBORHOOD: ETHNOGRAPHIC NOTES FROM EVERYDAY LIFE OFROM NOVA VIDA/MALVINAS, IN MOSSORÓ/RN

Abstract

The present research is constructed from ethnographic reflections developed in the study of the Square of a peripheral neighborhood in Mossoró, in Rio Grande do Norte. Sometimes defined as Praça das Malvinas and sometimes as Praça do Nova Vida, it goes through Disputes and Appropriations for its use and the priority in this public place that is polluted by the marks of Territorial Stigmatization (WACQUANT, 2017) that fall on the neighborhood, influencing in the legitimate and illegitimate public facades (GOFFMAN, 2011) that appear in the Square, creating boundaries and moral hierarchies constantly monitored by the Public Power. Establishing, then, a liminal social game in the Public Place, presented in several ethnographic cases. This is a specific excerpt from a multi-tool ethnographic work - which walked visually, virtually and in the materiality of the square - which was carried out based on the following problem question: what are the everyday and extraordinary social uses carried out in Praça do Nova Vida/ Malvinas? Through methodological choices, the square was mapped, being complexified by the continuous interaction in the existence of this public place, forming the following moral and emotional places: the sports court, the O Luizão field and the corridor. As a result, it was realized that the definitions of the place and the hierarchies and moral boundaries depend on an interactional and procedural arrangement that varies according to the strategies of approach and distance between users and the actions of public agents