XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Heritage as a community experience in the Bixiga neighborhood (S. Paulo)

• In Event: Places in Brazilian Studies

Abstract

Our target territory is Bixiga, a district located in the downtown area of São Paulo, which has the highest urban density in the city, in a landscape with a multi-ethnic mosaic, that encompasses collective housing, urban water springs, green slopes, and around 25% of all of São Paulo’s listed historical heritage. Currently, it houses the recently discovered archaeological site of Quilombo Saracura [a maroon society], in the context of an intervention for a new subway line.
Such interventions, along with actions of real estate speculation, have put at risk the protection of cultural goods, as well as memories and practices in Vale do Saracura, where Bixiga is located. Collective associations and movements active in this territory (such as such as Terreiro Ilê Asé Iyá Osún [a candomblé house], Mobilização Saracura-Vai-Vai, GRSCES Vai-Vai [a samba school] and Coletivo Salve Saracura) have articulated a movement of resistance, which takes heritage as one of the political strategies.
We will present ethnographic aspects about such groups (based on ongoing doctoral research by M. Françoso), as well as aspects of an extension course (USP-Sesc SP-IAB SP, coordinated by H. Frúgoli Jr. and M. Françoso) offered to representatives of these groups as well as scholars and professionals related to such field. Urban heritage is here approached from an anthropological perspective, based on a participatory and decentralized methodology, in which the participants of such movements were invited to speak on their perspective on the elements that give meaning and value to the territory in which they live.

Authors

• Heitor Frugoli Junior, University of Sao Paulo

• Michel Françoso, USP