"It is a stain you cannot conceal": production of difference and representations of the urban periphery in the community of Tapera, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina

Abstract

Located on the outskirts of Santa Catarina Island in Florianópolis, the community of Tapera da Base is often stigmatized as a space of violence, crime, and poverty, given that the region is one of the most socially vulnerable areas in the capital of Santa Catarina. This image, in turn, starkly contrasts with the perception of the city as a paradisiacal tourist destination free from woes. Stemming from the outcomes of my master's dissertation, this article sheds light on the narrative disputes and connections that transform periphery spaces into symbolically marked places of difference. In contrast to the conventional approach that seeks solutions external to the community, we look within the locality, through its multiple interlocutors and their respective interpretations, at the effects and "stains" left by the symbolic process of creating the 'other' in the context of Florianópolis. With the aim of demonstrating and compiling some of the multiple perceptions, narratives, and symbolizations that residents and various interlocutors of the Tapera neighborhood hold and form about this specific space, I will analyze oral accounts gathered from 11 influential figures within the social and cultural circles of the neighborhood, also incorporating a socio-historical critique of the formation of the periphery and urbanization in the region.