Cidadania e territorialidade periférica: a luta pelo direito à cidade na comunidade do Calabar em Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

Abstract

The dominance of the capitalist mode of production over urban processes is one of the main factors shaping socio-spatial inequalities in contemporary metropolises. However, this process is accompanied by a counter-hegemonic movement that emerges in the excluded zones of cities, primarily through the actions of social movements and organized political collectives by peripheral residents. Given this context, the present research aimed to comprehend, through the experiences of a group of residents from the Calabar community in Salvador, Brazil, the meanings and implications involved in this community's political struggle for the realization of the right to the city and the strengthening of citizenship in a peripheral urban context. To achieve this, the research followed four specific stages: i) conducting a bibliographic survey to understand the phenomenon ofsocio-spatialsegregation, starting from the concept of "location" as an articulating and relational component of intra-urban hierarchy; ii) conducting a critical examination of citizenship as a territorial category, in order to establish theoretical and methodological connections between the fields of geography and law; iii) delimiting the discussion around the idea of the "right to the city," embodying the social struggle undertaken by the new "collective subjects of rights" as a paradigm of social and urban transformation processes, following the praxis of “O Direito Achado na Rua” (The Law Found in the Street); iv) conducting an empirical investigation of the Calabar community in Salvador, including interviews with residents involved in local political activism and gathering historical information about the community's emergence within the urbanization context of the city. Throughout this process, different methods and techniques of data collection and analysis were utilized, primarily: i) bibliographic review to gather information, theories, and concepts underpinning the research; ii) in-depth interviews with a semi-structured script for empirical data collection; iii) Discourse Analysis (DA) as a method for systematizing and interpreting results. Ultimately, the significance of the Calabar residents' struggle could be highlighted in reshaping the concept of citizenship, moving it from a static understanding to a vibrant conception enriched by continuous and permanent movements of territorial (re)appropriation and the demand for the right to the city.