Deficiência, mobilidade e sociabilidade: um estudo antropológico sobre trajetórias e projetos de vida em Natal/RN

Abstract

This paper intends to realize an anthropological research among people with disabilities in Natal/Rio Grande do Norte, aiming to analyze the social constitution of disabilities experiences (ALVES & RABELO, 1999; MARTINS, 2010). The current analyses intend to understand these experiences from the “disability social model” perspective. The methodology consists on ethnographic research which includes participant observation, semistructured interviews and life history analyses in order to understand these people’s life trajectories and “projects” (VELHO, 1986; 1994). It was carried out on a daily routine among our interlocutors, who were people with disabilities, members of the Physically Disabled Association of Rio Grande do Norte State (ADEFERN), and also in other institutions, such as the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Friends of the Physically Disabled Society Club (SADEF/RN) and two Contemporary Dance Companies, called Gira Dança and Roda Viva; among other spaces and social networks. The purpose of doing research in these social spaces is to understand which were the paths undertaken by disabled people as well as the interconnections among them and the construction of their “social interactions” (GOFFMAN, 2009). In this work, I have considered the social spaces as a “social field of disabilities” (BOURDIEU, 2007), which comprises a scenario of sociabilities and possibilities of intervention in Natal/Rio Grande do Norte.