Dinâmicas de ocupação e de uso de espaço e interacção entre pessoas na Baixa da cidade de Maputo

Abstract

Anthropology has analyzed space from a perspective that explores identities and meanings that people attribute to it, and from another that explores how social relations construct social spaces. This literature allows us to understand space as a place of identity and meaning construction for people and groups, and as a product of the social relations and interactions that construct it. Inspired by this literature and using ethnographic research, in this work I interrogate the construction of space from an analysis of the dynamics of access, occupation and use of space and interaction between people in the downtown area of ​​Maputo.

From the research results, I understood that the downtown area is occupied and used differently according to the construction of space that users make of it. During the midweek, the area is occupied by workers, pedestrians, vendors, and users, with discreet sexual work, and the streets tend to be used for circulation and parking. During this period, the space is constructed as a place of transit for people and goods, focusing on formal work. At night, on the eve of weekends and holidays, and on Saturdays, the occupation changes, and the Baixa tends to be constructed as a destination in itself, as a space for leisure and fun where people temporarily assume the role of provider of sexual services or client, to eventually return to their roles as housewives and mothers and fathers or other profiles with which they associate and allow themselves to be associated in daily life. (TRADUÇÃO NOSSA)