Paper short abstract:

Our aim is to explore, from an ethnographic perspective, networks of relationships in the Luz neighborhood (the central area of São Paulo), emphasizing the so-called cracolândia (crackland) partly located there, as a kind of itinerant territoriality formed above all by users of crack cocaine.

Paper long abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present a more systematic investigation of what is commonly called crackland (cracolândia), going beyond a series of stigmatized representations of the Luz neighborhood and the center of São Paulo shown especially by the press and television. The use of crack cocaine is currently becoming a theme of increasing concern in Brazil, with repeated news about the "proliferation of cracklands" in various cities, and it must be understood what is at stake in each one of these configurations. Exploring networks of relationships and connections from an ethnographic perspective, we will work with the idea of crackland as a type of itinerant territoriality within a multifaceted context, and marked by multiple situational variations. This ethnographic reconstitution is mainly based on our interactions with "É de Lei", an NGO that works with harm reduction for users of crack cocaine in the region in question. In this context, the actions of É de Lei take place within a field of mediation also characterized by the actions of agents linked to public authorities, to other NGOs and to churches, as well as policemen, private security guards, shopkeepers, residents and passers-by. One of the challenges consists of understanding and explaining this territoriality in view of the recent political changes which rearrange the context researched, characterized by the presence of "noias" (a word derived from the term paranoia), a relational category which is used in a multiple recurring way referring to crack cocaine users.

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