Paper long abstract:

The aim of this proposal is to take mobility as analytical category, examining its importance in the anthropological field, as well as its potentials and limits to produce knowledge in contemporary ethnographic contexts. The relevance of mobility as an analytical parameter intensified in the discipline, with the growing concern around globalization and its consequences. Seen either in terms of the dynamics of movement dynamics or in relation to "place/fixity", mobility has enabled comparison of diverse contexts and forms of dislocation.

Based on my own ethnographic experiences on homelessness in São Paulo (Brazil), I discuss mobility from two perspectives: while the category translates fundamental meanings and subjectivities built on the constant move of these persons, it is also deeply intertwined with meanings of fixity, leading the researcher to a permanent relational rhythm. It reveals itself as a transitory, unfinished parameter, inscribing mutual relations between movement and "location".