Abstract
The chapter begins with a portrait of Teresina’s dominant sectors, revealing how practices of social distinction are embedded in the urban landscape. The chapter then investigates more closely how residents’ public demonstrations of sophistication interact with the built environment in the construction of an array of sophisticated people and places throughout the city. In the context of a rapidly growing provincial city where aspirations and anxiety around belonging are especially pronounced, to be invested in demonstrations of sophistication is to long for inclusion in the upwardly mobile echelons of Teresina’s society. The chapter argues that establishing a sense of belonging among Teresina’s upwardly mobile residents is not reducible to middle-class membership; it can only be grasped through the nuance of local understandings of social distinction.
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Notes
- 1.
The “galera” refers to the clique of people who come together to form Teresina’s nocturnal bohemia (Chap. 4).
- 2.
“Fora” (outside) is a term that is often used to signal a particular set of foreign places and cultures imagined to be superior.
- 3.
On a scale that rates 36 of Brazil’s most populated urban areas, Teresina finds itself at number 17 in terms of its percentage of classes A and B combined. In contrast, classes A and B make up 36.48% of the population of Florianopolis, which is in position number 1 (Neri 2009).
- 4.
Along with Bourdieu (1984), Weber (1946), and others, I share Julie Bettie’s position that “there are exceptions to the class-origin-equals-class-performance rule” (Bettie 2003: 50–51). Thus, I take up the local category of chique and other local categories of distinction to draw attention to the contested nature of prestige in Teresina.
- 5.
Familias tradicionais often established wealth and power through a long history of exploiting some of the state and nation’s poorest residents living in the Northeastern countryside.
- 6.
Both names are in their original, English-inspired Portuguese. Perhaps somewhat tellingly in terms of the malls’ overwhelming importance to residents, Teresina Shopping is often called “Teresina” for short.
- 7.
Prior to 1997, Teresina had a few small strip mall-type commercial centers in the East Zone and one covered walkway downtown with fans and misters, but none compared to the expansive internal spaces provided by the two malls.
- 8.
Ford offered interested buyers a down payment of R$1000 and 72 monthly payments of only R$500 (Noticias Automoveis n.d.). One way the Brazilian government attempted to prevent involving itself in the 2009 economic crisis was to stimulate the automotive market. The removal of a 7% import tax on certain models of cars resulted in mass car consumption throughout the country (Kugel 2009). In one month in 2010, Teresina had some of the highest numbers of car sales per capita in the country.
- 9.
Though the number of cars on Teresina’s roads has increased dramatically from 109,811 vehicles registered in 2001 to 317,000 in 2012, the numbers still amount to roughly two cars for every five residents (Humana Saúde 2012).
- 10.
Though in August of 2011, after I completed fieldwork for my doctoral dissertation, isolated shootings took place inside both shopping malls.
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Murphy, T.E. (2019). Chique Distinction in a Big Small Town. In: Queerly Cosmopolitan. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00296-1_3
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