Juventude rural, consumo e cultura material: um estudo em São Pedro da Serra, Nova Friburgo/RJ

Abstract

Academic researches dedicated to understanding rural youth tend to focus on topics such as permanence and work. This research, however, proposes an analysis of topics rarely addressed in studies on rural youth: Consumption and Material Culture. The site chosen for the field research was the district of São Pedro da Serra, in Nova Friburgo/RJ (Brazil). From interviews with young people living in this territory, we identified four categories that cross their daily lives: clothing, digital communication technologies, transportation and waste. The analysis of these categories allowed us to build an initial view on the relationship of these rural youths with consumption and material culture. The interviews also revealed particularities in the way that young rural people deal with the possibility of settling in their territory and how they “dribble”, mainly through internet shopping, the limitations imposed by living far from urban centers, with greater availability and variety of markets. Although it is not possible, within the limits of this research, to reach broad conclusions, we hope to contribute to the construction, in rural studies, of a look at invisible daily practices, but which also occur in these spaces, such as purchases and the manipulation of the material world.