LUTANDO CONTRA O LIXÃO DA CACHIMBA: CONSIDERAÇÕES SOBRE IDENTIDADE SOCIAL E PARTICIPAÇÃO POLÍTICA

Abstract

This paper has the purpose of discussing and articulating possible relations between social identity and political participation, taking into account field work in the Cachimba district, in the periphery of Curitiba, state of Paraná.
I’ve tried to follow the processes of interaction in the daily life of the inhabitants, investigating how the feeling of locality and of belonging to an existential common experience has been used as a strong motivation for the demands of the Italians to the city authorities, using the Local Health Council as a privileged locus of articulation in the struggle against the existence of a garbage landfill in the district.
It has been visible that people’s mobilisation has been possible when grouping different concepts on politics,
and even different styles and forms of participation in the public domain of politics, when the different Roman Catholic Italians assembled to face the problem. While the inhabitants had specific interests when struggling against the presence of the landfill, we saw an urban social movement arising and intervening –or at least trying to intervene– in the destiny of the city space.
In this paper, it has been tried to uncover the logic underlying the movements and demands seen during the investigation, demonstrating that politics, as shared by the inhabitants, has become an usual subject for those who keep on living in Cachimba.