"IT DOESN'T EVEN LOOK LIKE CAXIAS!" MEANINGS OF PERIPHERY IN AUDIOVISUAL COLLECTIVES IN THE BAIXADA FLUMINENSE

Abstract

This article discusses the production of a singular representation of the 'periphery' and investigates the impact of collective artistic practices on the formation of subjectivities in individuals involved in film clubs in the Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro. It is an excerpt from the first author's master's research on the production of subjectivities in cultural collectives, based on the field of Community Psychosociology. The qualitative and cartographic research selected artistic collectives that operate as film clubs, particularly 'Mate com Angu' and 'Buraco do Getúlio,' both located in the Baixada Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro. Through biographical interviews, content analysis (Bardin, 2011) was conducted, in which semantic shifts in the meanings of 'periphery' present in the interlocutors' discourses were observed. The different historical developments of the municipalities in the Baixada Fluminense resulted in diverse scenarios, ranging from extremely marginalized territories to local economic elites and vast natural reserves. Despite this diversity, from the perspective of media representation, we see the predominance of narratives that stigmatize this region and its people. In this research, however, the interlocutors seem to illustrate semantic shifts in the meanings of 'periphery' through their collective experiences in their territory, seeing themselves as central to symbolic production rather than marginalized.