On the road, tearing through the trecho: Popular Mobility, Family and Large Development Projects

Abstract

In this paper I discuss some processes related to the “life on the trecho”: expression used in the North of the Brazilian state of Goias to describe the experiences of those people who work far away from their hometowns, as small scale miners or for companies related to large development projects. I present some of the implications of these experiences for family and sexual issues, trying to show how the discussion of these topics allows us to understand broader questions, related to central values and meanings of this universe. I also suggest that in these situations we are facing, at the same time, the persistence and transformation of traditional practices related to what we could call a “wandering culture”, for a long time present in the hinterland of the country.