Reconhecimento e redistribuição na luta urbana por moradia: o caso da ocupação organizada Eliana Silva

Abstract

The struggles for housing are concrete manifestations of the inequality that affects Brazil. A theme that is always present in urbanists' discussions, these struggles have almost always been interpreted by the Marxist perspective, focused on the issue of income inequality. However, the complexity of society suggests that injustices have varied roots and that limiting any struggle to its distributive aspect seems insufficient. Therefore, understanding the struggle for housing requires addressing it by both aspects of redistribution and recognition integrated. Considering the current limitation and the enormous research potential of the struggles for housing, this dissertation proposed to advance in the discussion, from four stages: (1) systematization of the main approaches already made around the problem; (2) approximation of the main theoretical aspects that explore the concept of recognition in the interpretation of social justice; (3) research of the historical context that constitutes the scenario of injustices of access to housing in Brazil; and (4) theory-empirical connection that could show the new possibilities of interpretation of the struggle for housing, provided by the practical approximation with key elements of the theories of recognition. The theory-empirical connection was reached through the qualitative analysis of the discursive content of interviews with residents of organized urban occupation Eliana Silva, which brought advances in two aspects: (1) by putting into dialogue the theories of recognition of Axel Honneth and of Nancy Fraser, contributed to the strengthening of the still-disputed concept in political science; (2) by bringing these theories closer to the social practice of Eliana Silva's struggle, it has illuminated some new elements in the interpretation of the struggle for housing: (a) the identification of disrespect as a source of indignation and motivator of action, discarding the limitation of struggle to mere pursuit of interests; (b) the understanding of intersubjectivity as a key element for the formation of identities and moral evolution of subjects; (c) the importance of the incorporation of recognition in the analysis of the inequality of access to housing, which extends the reading of the house as freedom, citizenship and esteem, which appear imbricated to its material content; (d) the reinterpretation of the ambivalence of the struggle for housing in the light of the theories of recognition; (e) the emancipatory potential of the housing struggle in the subject's practical self-relationships; (f) simultaneously, the inability of these practical actions to transform the structure of social valuation, which ensures the continuation of some injustices.