When the whistle didn’t toot: a multiterritorial perspective in a declining workers’ neighborhood (Barreto – Niterói)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the changes that occurred in the workers’ neighborhood of Barreto, located in the city of Niteroi in the state of Rio de Janeiro over the last thirty years, and to identify the impact of these changes upon the neighborhood’s population. By making use of the theoretical assumptions which led us to a multiterritorial approach and by associating these considerations with references important for the field of History that deals with class studies and class culture, this research discusses how social identities acquired new meanings and what strategies were employed by the former workers and dwellers to reformulate the space a process that started in the seventies, when an ever-growing process of industrial exhaustion began.