Cartography of social action and the struggle for the use of territory in Brazil: contributions to reflection on method from the experience of Rede Fitovida in Rio de Janeiro

Cartografía de la acción social y la lucha por el uso del territorio en Brasil: contribuciones a la reflexión del método desde la red Fitovida en Río de Janeiro

Abstract

In the 1990s, new subjects and technical possibilities of mapping emerged on the heels of increasingly fierce modernizations and conflicts between hegemonic agents (State and major capitalists) and counter-hegemonic agents (traditional communities and social movements) over the use of territory. In this context, one can highlight the USA's critical cartography and Brazilian's social cartography premises at the forefront of disputes over spatial representations in social struggles. We focus on Ana Clara Torres Ribeiro's cartography of social action methodology, which has been developed on two main fronts: the experience of school and focus groups with social entities and movements. To present the results of experience research with focus groups of the Rede Fitovida in Rio de Janeiro, we bring to the fore two contributions of this method: (i) to focus the analysis on the action and on the subject of this action to grasp the underlying meanings behind it, and (ii) in the open possibility of working with struggles for the use of territory by more diffuse subjects in urban contexts, and not only in those happening in occupied lands.

Keywords:
Critical cartography; Social cartography; Social action cartography; Subject of action; Territory in use