What are the places of the housemaids? Seeking to answer this question, this paper uses the notion of place as a social and symbolic space which relates to territoriality and identity. For the study, housemaids were interviewed in a qualitative research approach. The chosen method was life story, because the notions of time and memory are directly related to the place, territory and identity. By the life trajectories of the housemaids, we realize a greater identification and sense of belonging with the current places of work and housing. In the workplace, the home as a productive sphere, there are at the same time a physical proximity and a symbolic distance between housemaid and employers. What stands out in their statements is a recurring denial of the condition of housemaid to allow themselves to belong to the places. The main contributions of this study reinforce both the symbolism of the place as its plurality, since they are places, in the plural, occupied by the housemaids; and reinforce especially the differentiation between being physically in a place and symbolically belong to this place. Furthermore, we observed that the housemaids, like any social subject, may experience different notions of belonging and territoriality, according to the different stages of her lives.
Places; Housemaids; Identity; Territory; History