Territorialidades queer: experiências urbanas de corpos dissidentes na área central de João Pessoa, Paraíba

Abstract

This research aims to contribute with new possibilities for reading, understanding and representing the relationship between gender, sexuality and public space in the contemporary city based on the subject's urban experience. In this way, a historical and cultural analysis of the center of João Pessoa is carried out, exploring the queer territories that emerged in the context of dominant and heteronormative urbanization. Furthermore, the different forms of resistance present in the urban landscape of the city center are considered, which are related to the concept of "used territory" proposed by Milton Santos. Therefore, the formation of territorialities constructed by dissident bodies is investigated, carrying out an analysis of the appropriations and sociability produced in public spaces such as streets, squares, alleys, sidewalks, staircases and parks in João Pessoa. A time frame for the research is delimited between January and December 2023. As for the main objective, it is proposed to understand how these appropriations and sociability can enhance and qualify the city's public spaces and specific ones (i) conceptually discuss the formation the identities of the subjects and how they operate in urban space, relating this debate to the Right to the City; (ii) conceptually discuss the territorialities constructed by dissident bodies to the sexual and gender binarism; (iii) explore how queer territorialities were formed in the central area of João Pessoa in the temporal and spatial area under analysis; (iv) map, categorize and map the forms of appropriation of queer bodies in the central area of João Pessoa, as well as identify their perceptions of public space, their memories, their habits, their motivations and their expectations for experiencing public space. To this end, some methodological procedures were established, which are arranged in five stages: (i) collection of data from secondary sources (construction of the conceptual theoretical framework); (ii) documentary research; (iii) definitions of the universe of studies/spatial sections; (iv) primary source data collection techniques (field observation, definition of the group of participants and semi-structured interviews); (v) and, finally, ystematization and analysis of observational data and interviews together with the production of social cartographies. As a result of this research, a unified social cartography was developed with the overlay of the most relevant information from the groups interviewed, in addition to a booklet with strategies aimed at qualifying and enhancing queer territories in the center of the city of João Pessoa