Os forrós da Serra da Gameleira (São Tomé/RN) : etnicidade, festa e sociabilidade

This work intends to describe and analyze the parties of forró that happen in Serra da Gameleira, in São Tomé/RN. Serra is a divided social space: groups of different ethnic origins live together in Gameleira de Baixo, Salgadinho (or Gameleira de Cima) and Chaves Belas. They are approximately two hundred families that live exclusively from agriculture. We try to understand how the parties inform about the social organization, the ethnic composition of the families that live there and the past of Serra, through the genealogy offorró players. In the discussion, we identify the festive places: in the total, we have Five houses of forró that function regularly one of them has been described. The private and public spaces inside them are intimate related, with no clear limits between the house of forró and the residence. Each house of forró has an owner, that regularly makes the parties, mobilizing a big part of the inhabitants, and provoking the straitening of the social relations. Observing the festive sociability between different social segments, the forró appears like na element that minimizes social conflicts, providing news ways of association and cooperation in the space of Serra da Gameleira. For the collection of facts, we used the ethnographic method, through the direct observation, interviewing and documentary research. The local history is recounted following the routes of oral memory and historical documents analysis. In the end of the analysis, we concluded that music and party are elements that aggregate the different groups that live in the location and determine forms of expression of what is seen as a traditional culture

GÊNERO E RELAÇÕES DE PODER NO PENTECOSTALISMO: ESTUDO COMPARATIVO ENTRE A IGREJA DE CRISTO NO BRASIL E A COMUNIDADE EVANGÉLICA SARA NOSSA TERRA

Based on the empirical comparative study between two churches from Pentecostal guidance - both located in Parnamirim/RN - and supported on a dialogic interaction between my interlocutors and theoretical references, I proposed me to reflect about how this protestant segment represents and articulates questions such as gender and power relationships, and the daily impact of that in their followers life. In other words, this dissertation aims to understand the reason of the asymmetry attributed to male and female, especially in what concerns the distribution of ecclesiastic works and the authority given to male, as well as the implication of this reality in the reconfiguration of morality and religious praxis in daily life of individuals and involved groups. From this perspective, this work was divided in three chapters, in which I investigate the tension/relationship between faith and secularism, for from this question on concessions and/or prohibitions related to the limits and involvement of the followers with the world and with the very Pentecostal ethos arise. I also analyze here aspects concerning to both ecclesiastic hierarchy and power, with the objective of elucidating how it occurs, what kind of criteria and implications they consider as well as about the nature of the religious labor division between men and women and, finally, I try to understand how the conversion/adhesion of members is reflected in the redefinitions of gender and its relationship between the ecclesiastical and domestic spaces. The diligence and energy spent in this work is in the hope that its fruits can corroborate in the expansion of anthropological knowledge which, in this particular case, involves the Brazilian Pentecostal phenomenon

Práticas sócio-ambientais no espaço escolar: uma reflexão sobre a percepção dos usuários de duas escolas do ensino fundamental em João Pessoa, Paraíba

In the social-historical moment we live in, it is each time more evident the necessity of the people to learn to deal with the environment in conscientious way, taking care of themselves properly through it. In this direction, considering the school as a place where children, young and adolescents spend great part of their time, this work had as objective to examine the perception of school environment for students, professors and employees of two schools in João Pessoa city - Centro Estadual Experimental de Ensino-Aprendizagem Sesquicentenário and Escola Estadual de Ensino Fundamental e Médio Presidente Emílio Garrastazu Médici (Experimental State Center of Learning-teaching Sesquicentenário and Basic and High State School Education Emilio Garrastazu Médici President). From the presupposed that the environments in which and with which people live reflect their daily practices, the field work searched to identify the social-environmental practices that characterize the relation of these users with the school and, from this understanding, to infer some of their concerns regarding the environment as a whole. To analyze the use of the available physical space in the two institutions it was opted the use of the After-Occupation Evaluation, one of the approaches that feed the process of building production or built set, rescuing aspects related to its use, operation and maintenance. Besides analyzing diverse school environments (such as classroom circulations/accesses, library, pedagogical and sportive spaces) in relation to the environmental comfort and the perceptions of the main users of the schools (pupils, professors and employees), the dissertation tried to inquire the care (ambient education) of these users with the school space. In general, it was verified that the two schools have evaluations and perceptions really different for four reasons: (i) management of the schools; (ii) the users perception; (III) localization of schools and (IV) feeling of place, territoriality and appropriation

Espaços de pobreza e mobilidade urbana: os deslocamentos da população de baixa renda em Natal/RN

This dissertation is an attempt to understand how families with an income of up to three minimum wages and living in different Areas of Demographic Expansion (AEDs) of Natal municipality specifically in the districts of Igapó and Salinas (North Administrative Zone of the city), Ponta Negra (South Administrative Zone), Santos Reis, Praia do Meio, Areia Preta and Mãe Luíza (East Administrative Zone) and Felipe Camarão (West Administrative Zone) solve their problems of urban mobility. It is, therefore, a reflection upon the mobility needs of poor urban households as expressed in terms of origin-destiny displacements for specific movements (house-work, house-school, house-shopping, house-healthcare and house-leisure), all of which being analyzed within the relationship between public transportation and poverty spaces of the city. In order to develop the study, theoretical aspects and themes related to the production of the urban space, to social and spatial segregation, to urban mobility and to transportation were confronted with the collected data referring to the urban population previously selected. One of the research main findings is the crucial role mobility plays in the social differentiation of such people living in Natal and that any policy for the improvement of their living conditions must take mobility issues into account

Estética do apocalipse: (re) considerações acerca da (des) arborização urbana de Natal e seu contributo à saúde pública

This study intends to establish a relation between environmental degradation, particularly the devastation of the green canopy, and public health. Utilizing a mapping of the trees included in the researched area, each individual tree was analyzed according to its age, taxonomic listing, architecture, shape and size (determined by aesthetic/convenience reasons or deformed by pruning). Initially investigated were the covert reasons lying underneath the constant aggression against trees (which many times seem to contain elements of hatred and contempt) within the urban environment. In addition to that, the aspects concerning environmental modifications and the consequent impact on public health were also assessed. Two main problems promptly emerged as a result of the removal of trees: a) without a canopy to protect the areas, they became subject to winds directly blown from SW Africa and impregnated with aerosol partic les, which are common causes for respiratory disorders and, b) direct UV solar radiation, which causes some types of skin cancers and eye disorders. To reach such results, we studied the origins and formation of UV radiation induced cancers and searched for the UV radiation spectra of action, e.g., usual intensity and quantity reaching clear and shadowed spaces in a certain area and its consequences. In a second instance, we also searched for pertinent data resources in order to confirm the increase of skin cancer cases due to exposure to UV radiation and the relation between the destruction of the green canopy and the above mentioned problems. We believe that a few significant results have been achieved by this study, namely: the relation between a culture based on medieval beliefs and its consequences on the environment; how this culture exploits and deforms nature in pursuit of financial and psychological interests to a point of transforming the landscape into a copy of something devoid of any relation to latitude and altitude; and above all, the indifference concerning the alarming results carried by these modifications

Acessibilidade no ambiente escolar: reflexões com base no estudo de duas escolas municipais de Natal-RN

This work was originated through the results of the analysis of the services for the needs of people with disabilities that were permitted by the physical space of two schools of the municipality of Natal/RN. The general objective/goal was to subsidize the elaboration of alternatives for the planning of environments that could be used by any person. The study used the empirical research through the adoption of a multimethod approach including: (i) technical visits oriented by the NBR 9050, (ii) contact with users that have reduced mobility (visually impaired and wheelchair or crutch users) through escorted travels and interviews, and (iii) interview with school managers. The evidence from the research, even though with significant development of laws that guarantee people with disabilities their right to citizenship, the physical environment of our schools still present with many obstacles that prevent the mobility of people with disabilities which proves their lack of readiness to accommodate them. Therefore, the actions taken to address the accessibility has been the adoption of temporary solutions that makes the adaptation more difficult, adds obstacles and reinforces the undesirable segregation, however still very present in our society. Finally, there is the indication that in order to achieve the spatial configuration that promotes social contact and integration in between the persons with different physical status, it is necessary to completely comprehend the activities developed in each space, from the conception of the equipment to the individual learning needs, having in mind creating environments that stimulates the execution of the tasks in an independent manner without the assistance of others. The inclusion regarding attention to accessibility in the decision making process, directed to the arquitectural and urban project, would decrease the constant need to redevelop and adapt spaces, and should be definitely incorporated as an important component in the production of space

A festa do bom Jesus dos navegantes em propriá-se: história de fé, espaço das relações sociais e laços culturais

The study is a survey conducted for the Master of Social Sciences carried out in partnership between the Universidade Tiradentes-UNIT/SE and the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). Being a religious event, we seek to show that the religious parties generally have particular meanings for each nation or region. Amaral (1998) informs that the Brazilian parties regardless of where they occur are popular demonstrations that, as the context in which they present themselves, can dilute to crystallize, to celebrate, to ritualize or sacralize the particular social experience of the groups that do. They happen as a way to thank victories or important religious passages as Christmas, the June saints celebration, patron saints and patron saints considered. Thus, The Bom Jesus dos Navegantes party in Propriá-SE: story of faith, a space of social relations and cultural ties, is presented as our field of study because it is one of those celebrations that while celebrated in Sergipe, always on Sundays in January, by some municipalities situated along the river San Francisco, has the characteristic of overlap any others placed in town, including the one of the city's patron saint, Saint Anthony, held on June 13. Concerning the materials and methods, we opted for qualitative research and participant direct observation, using the techniques of personal notes, interviews, newspapers, websites, photos, videos and testimonials from participants and organizers, as well as references offered by experts of the area. With this research answers were sought to questions about what could keep alive the celebration of Bom Jesus dos Navegantes each year in order that this is a patron saint, not saint; the way as the investment of local government with more resources in this period, during the organization of arts festivals, has created a thread of tension with the Catholic Church promoting the religious rituals was reviewed. It was also analyzed how the sacred and profane spaces present themselves inseparable from the celebration and, finally, it was revealed that the party retains its value by preserving its tradition and making room for modernity, not weakening but suffering metamorphoses of time and space and can be seen in the social and cultural bonds wrapped by the time of religious faith

Organizações comunitárias e movimentos sociais : conflitos e tensões nos espaços de participação do município de Natal

This study reflects on the conflicts that exist between the different forms of participation and the political representation manifested by community organizations and social movements in the city of Natal/RN. The objective is to better understand the process of political participation of the popular classes and how the different actors have represented collective demands in the struggle for rights. To this end, we mapped the organizations, social movements and participation spaces, through a type of participant research, in which we had the opportunity to experience and study different forms of collective action and events instigated by the community organizations and the Movement for the Struggle in the Neighborhoods, Villages and Slums (Movimento de Luta nos Bairros, Vilas e Favelas) MLB. From the theoretical contributions of authors such as Maria da Glória Gohn, Marco Aurélio Nogueira, Virginia Fontes, Vera da Silva Telles, Roberto Da Matta and Carlos Montaño, as well as the empirical data collected, the study revealed that on representing their segments and occupying different spaces of participation, some actors have formed partnerships with the State, putting collective demands on a second plane. Contrarily, other actors have articulated their struggle around collective demands and manifested through direct action, mobilizing and asserting themselves in defense of a project for society

A etnopoética de Iracema: diálogo, ciência e literatura

Literary works are thought provokers that make it possible to access several forms to view the world and reality. They provide diversified points of view and infinite connections. In a particular way, among all the other forms of art expression literature is considered to be the closest to life, once it is able to reconnect all human dimensions emotional, rational, mystic, personal, universal, corporal, historic, mythical. This thesis aims at offering some reflections about the frontiers and bridges between science and literature aiming at understanding the complexity that guides them. It presents a new reading of Iracema novel: Ceará tale of José de Alencar from a meticulous incursion through new ways and natural spaces interwoven by Alencar. It tries to hear the echoes of this indianist novel in the university students today. In a broader context, it creates arguments that question the multiple threadsthat join science and literature so that a science of complexity arises distinguishing but not separating the innumerous narratives about the world. For this purpose, this thesis has as interlocutors: Antonio Candido, Charles P. Snow, Edgar Morin, Emilio Ciurana, Fritjof Capra, George Steiner, Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers, Roger Chartier, Roland Barthes. The plot presented here does not limit the novel to science, but makes it a rereading of the word, of life, once this is the raw material of books. As a methodological strategy, we rebuilt Iracema´s character trips in a way to update the novel, resulting in the video documentary Iracema ways: the arid and remote interior, the plateau, the sea. Iracema novel and character enhancing dialogs that allow the dichotomy rupture between two cultures (Charles P. Snow), recognizing they are not incommunicable and revealing the core argument of the thesis: Iracema belongs to a complex category. It is a hybrid novel that is far, far away from that bluish plateau in the horizon

Beco da lama: formas e cores de uma plástica da vida

Our research goes a remarkable setting of Natal-RN. This is a place where we find art practices and artworks territorialities building the margin of museums, art galleries and institutional galleries. Its geography includes an area popularly known as Mud Alley. Along geography that we critically about how some processes of sociability, which formed the margins of institutional fields, can, and its progeny, compose new possibilities to relate to art and artistic practices. Thinking about the dialogues and clashes that positioning the margins can offer, we investigated the role of bookstores, bars and other spaces of the Alley in the promotion and dissemination of artistic practices, focusing on how these spaces handle the work, the artists and the patrons Beco da Lama. Our integration into the search field resulted in collecting testimonials, pictures and watching expressions which, together with sensations obtained during the years of integration in that setting, help make our empirical material. To follow us methodologically this investigation, we looked at a higher frequency, a theoretical support of authors: Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Giorgio Agamben. With them compose an investigative diagram to think about the art of Alley, noting the relationship of the Alley with the established field of art, as well as towards the rest of the city. The results point to the view of a singular event that shows artistic practices writing in the margins of institutional spaces, new territoriality for contact with art. The term territoriality points to situations formed by practices, feelings, wishes, expressions, and poetic subjectivity that can tell us we are confronted with an event comprising it as the moment of realization of potentialities, desires, subjectivities and spatialities training, flocks, movements. In our case, the event while the Mud Alley Alley Arts forced us to rethink the role and the place of art and artist in Natal-RN

Medo e violência na cidade: imagens, discursos e sociabilidade nas praças de João Pessoa - PB

The present work analyses and discusses the sociability in the culture of contemporary cities focusing on the theme of fear and violence in the daily life of squares in the city of João Pessoa-PB. We analyse the relations between places in town and make correlations of history and setting of neighborhoods with the process of urban growth, including recent interventions of public authorities in their public spaces. We observed in this dynamics social attitudes and actions that range from a desired peaceful coexistence to social exclusion. Thus, we discuss, based upon the imaginary vision, that the squares exist as a locus of equality, citizenship and political, and, also, as a space for everyone, despite the existence of symbolic forces working towards segregation and privatization, ruled in fear and violence. We aimed to investigate the different symbolic logics from the issue of fear and violence that allows the exclusion and the inclusion of groups and individuals in the quotidian use of public spaces of contemporary cities. We believe that the social action is demarcated by violence ant its corollary, the social fear, and operates based on the logic of a relational game always confrontational but experienced in different forms according to the social segment or group under study. We used a qualitative and quantitative methodology relating data and statistical analysis with categories created for the understanding of subjective factors. Our analyses combined ethnographic elements, periodics research and images of the city and its spaces, with the contribution of a survey that allowed comparisions of five squares of neighborhood based on the daily life under investigation. Our proposal was to deepen the investigations related to the public space of contemporary cities, expanding the look on João Pessoa and its cultural dynamics with an analysis of discourses, images, the collective imaginary and the social appropriation of the spaces based on fear and violence. The research accomplished in different areas and the analysis of images and speeches published in newspapers reports, books, advertising etc. allowed the approach of differentiated patterns of sociability in the same urban process. The neighborhoods in study are indeed spatially and economically distanced and the process of creation and construction of squares occurred in very different ways in the respective location. We defend the thesis that neighborhood community squares provide reinvigorated spaces and public spheres in the urban process and in the dynamics of sociability in the cities. These squares are also social spaces par excellence for the perception of the logic of individualism and segregation so marked by fear and violence in contemporary cities

Natal como destino turístico : um estudo das imagens (re)veladas pela mídia, pelos turistas e suas implicações educacionais e culturais

This thesis is a result of a research on Natal/RN as a tourist destination. We understand that cities are chosen as tourist destinations beyond its cartographic localization, from other dimensions of meanings that, in its set, constitute images. These images are, probably, very different of the images constructed by native and resident populations, who possess relations of identity with the place. The knowledge of the meanings that others attribute to this city as tourist destination, bring us near to the symbolic bonds established by individuals or social groups on the act of their choices, as well as bring us near to the interaction process city-tourists where the expectations are confirmed or not. The images divulgated by the media also participate of the complex formation of the tourist image that is being constructed and available for the different public, in different social contexts. The tourism constitutes a symbolic asset of the modern society, being considered by the studious, as one of the most expressive phenomena of the modernity, for involving each year displacement and the interaction of thousand of people of different cultures in the entire world. All this people s mobilization points to practical social related to personal motivations, to the entailed desired to the idea to travel and to exceed borders. It is already consensus that tourism is a phenomenon of economic growth, generating jobs, income, professional, qualification, bringing improvements for the host cities. Since 1995, in Brazil, the tourism as a sector of the economy, passed to be considered one of the national priorities, and in this perspective, the national politics of the tourism invested in infrastructure of Brazilian cities with high tourist potential, objecting to increase the flows of Brazilian and foreign tourists. Owing to this fact, the country still invests in programs of tourist marketing, mainly divulging the images of the natural beauties of Brazil abroad. And for Brazilians, the campaigns appeal to rescue the feeling to be Brazilian, associating the idea to travel and know its country. Natal city possesses an excellent positioning in the tourist marketing, being predominantly divulgated in national and international level, for its naturalistic singularity, where the images of its natural enchantments as warm water beaches, white dunes, warm weather, constant breeze and an always blue sky are shown as the favorite scene on this city. From what was viewed above that the choice of a tourist destination articulates from a determined imaginary of a place, already constructed or in process of construction, we consider the knowledge of this imaginary a basic learning for the population of the city and especially, for educators, in the formation of professionals in this area and for tourism managers, elaborators of public politics. Based on this estimative, we developed this research that had as a general objective to identify the images that illustrate Natal city as a tourist destination - our objective of study, particularly the meanings and senses attributed by the tourist marketing (hotel s folders) and by the tourists that visited the city during this study. The discussions and reflections that had guided this research had been given from the theoretical link between imaginary and social representation, also considering some interfaces between the fields of communication and symbol. From the studied authors, Baczko (1985) clarifies that the study of social imaginary is directed for the mechanisms and structures of the social life, especially for the intervention accomplishes and efficient of the representations and symbols in the practical collectives, as well as in its direction and orientation . Following this same thought, Moscovici (1978) says that the social representation are produced in communicational and symbolic contexts, and these representations once that already constituted circulate socially as almost tangible entities. Based on this fundament and on the analyze of Barthes (1990), particularly in the approach given to the reading of photographic image, we could observe on hotel s folders that each page evidences senses and meanings of functionality of internal and external spaces, pointing to the way of leisure offered by the keepers of city which is the hotels. About, the leisure that they offer, it is directed to young public, giving meaning to the young myth of personalized leisure tourism on children, young and adults images. The image about security that hotels offer and the singular image of Natal city as a paradise place, provide an idealization of pleasure through the sun, dunes, and beaches and also due to the hospitability of the natives who are assigned as educated . For the tourist that participated on this research, Natal city is tied only by the imaginary of leisure and nature which constitute the emotional link of the relation media-city-tourist. And with such force and fullness of directions the city discloses without tensions and contradictions as a place protected by a mythical and sacred aura. The study also demonstrates us that the potiguar culture remains (almost) forgotten, due to the silenced in this imaginary. In this perspective, we highlight that this culture silence is very close related to the disvalue of education in its general meaning. We defend that the imaginary apprehended constitutes a new reading and a new looking and understanding the tourist reality that comes historically consolidating in this city. In this direction, we glimpse that this study and its future dismemberments can collaborate with the process of rescue the cultural values of the potiguar people, in the way that the meaning of tourist may be redefined, and the tourist image of the city can be also disclosed for its identities particularities of its culture

A rotina de crianças de zero a dois anos na educação infantil e as especificidades infantis

In current upbringing production, children are often conceived as rightful subjects, and concrete and singular people, marked by specificities that schools must respect, mainly their personal wholeness, their care and attention needs, as well as their abilities to learn and produce culture. In the educational practices frame, routine is considered to have a definitive roll in time, space and activities structuring, as with actions and relations of subjects involved. In that perspective, this research aims to analyze routines of zero to two years old children in the upbringing context, relating to their childish specificities. Anchored in the qualitative approach, a Case Study was developed, according the procedures of daily routine observation and semi-structured interviews with six nursery teachers of CMEI Centro Municipal de Educação Infantil, Natal-RN, the research field. The data analysis was based in Speech Analysis principles. The teachers utterances regarding routine and it s roll in the frame revealed significances related to control/regulation of actions theirs and students aiming to streamline tasks; learning relative to routine itself, time and school practices. Thus, prospects of discipline and exercise of power of teachers over students surges, reducing their possibilities to participate. These conceptions reflect the daily routine of the kids and their teachers. By analyzing the methods of routine operation in the time/space/activities frame of CMEI, it was possible to perceive its homogenization of actions and rhythms, not only of the group s children, but the whole institution, which creates, many times, a controlling character that contains/prevents children s initiative. However, it was also possible to observe that in routine recesses, when it s relaxed, and other spaces, times and actions are provided, kids have the opportunity to experience and create different ways of action and relation with time, materials, other kids and teachers, being, as such, respected their specificities. We highlight the importance of reflections regarding routine in upbringing context, as to comprehend it s functions and the need for it s construction to take a multiple character that respects the plurality of situations and singularities of children as persons

Contribuições a técnicas de agrupamento e visualização de dados multivariados utilizando mapas auto-organizáveis

Self-organizing maps (SOM) are artificial neural networks widely used in the data mining field, mainly because they constitute a dimensionality reduction technique given the fixed grid of neurons associated with the network. In order to properly the partition and visualize the SOM network, the various methods available in the literature must be applied in a post-processing stage, that consists of inferring, through its neurons, relevant characteristics of the data set. In general, such processing applied to the network neurons, instead of the entire database, reduces the computational costs due to vector quantization. This work proposes a post-processing of the SOM neurons in the input and output spaces, combining visualization techniques with algorithms based on gravitational forces and the search for the shortest path with the greatest reward. Such methods take into account the connection strength between neighbouring neurons and characteristics of pattern density and distances among neurons, both associated with the position that the neurons occupy in the data space after training the network. Thus, the goal consists of defining more clearly the arrangement of the clusters present in the data. Experiments were carried out so as to evaluate the proposed methods using various artificially generated data sets, as well as real world data sets. The results obtained were compared with those from a number of well-known methods existent in the literature

A constituição de identidades de mulheres : práticas discursivas e relações de poder

This research investigates the discursive constitution of identities; in spe-cial, it aim to problematize women identities constitution, pointing discursive prac-tices and power relations which involve them. The interviewed subjects had been adult women who had resumed their school trajectory, after certain period without frequenting educational establishments. Aware of that those identities can be per-ceived through the observations of the discursive practices, we question: which discursive practices and power relations involve and constitute those women? Which identity positionings they take through the discursive practices and power relations that include them and that are identified in their stories? Which linguistic marks characterize, in the speech of those women, forms of resistance in the con-stitution of identities? We intend to investigate the constitution of woman identities in the contemporanity; pointing discursive practices and power relations which in-volve women that converge to their identity constitution; exploring in the linguistic materiality effects of senses that emanate of the discursive practices and power relations which involve the collaborators in the identity constitution in private and public spaces. Research corpus is composed by stories of life granted by three women, collected through semidirected interview between 2004 and 2005. To ana-lyze the data, we base in authors as Pêcheux (1993; 2002), Foucault (1979; 1988; etc.), Butler (2003), Scott (1992; 1995), Hall (2000; 2004; 2005), Bauman (1999; 2005), among others that problematize questions as discourse, identity, social gender, power and its interfaces. The life stories had allowed to analyze: the gen-der identity constitution from discursive practices and relations of forces lived in the familiar scenery; assumed identity positionings from discursive practices in globalized urban contexts; power positions in the domestic and extradomestic sphere and new identity positionings