Ruralidades persistentes: identidades, trajetórias e modos de vida entre os migrantes da serra para o bairro Santa Marta em Camaquã-RS

Abstract

This research consists of an analysis of the trajectories of migrants from rural areas to urban centers, focusing on the Santa Marta neighborhood located in the northernmost part of Camaquã-RS, Brazil. It examines the motivations, origins, adaptation strategies, and manifestations of rural culture continuity within this urban environment. The study employs a methodological arrangement to capture the experiences and perceptions of individuals, and the crystallization of these processes in the social and landscape forms of the neighborhood. Santa Marta neighborhood serves as a vital link between Camaquã city and its rural hinterland, known as the "serra". Occupied significantly by families migrating from this region across generations, the neighborhood's extremes serve as interfaces between rural and urban lifestyles, noticeable in various aspects of social life, landscapes, culture, and economy. Urban occupational profile families coexist with those maintaining small properties or plots for food cultivation, tobacco crops, and animal husbandry. This forms a neighborhood blending spatial occupation patterns commonly associated with rural life with urban ones, a process fraught with tensions and contradictions but also continuities and notable cohesion. The study relies on the analysis of twelve semi-structured interviews, considerations regarding landscape formations mediated by photographic production and analysis, and experiential observations resulting from the author's immersive experience. To this end, contributions are drawn mainly from José de Souza Martins (2008, 2014, 2017), Milton Santos (1997, 2005, 2014), and Maria José Carneiro (1998a, 1998b).