Casas e gentes: modos de viver e morar em uma cidade do interior de Alagoas

Abstract

One of the most striking examples of popular architecture in the North-East of Brazil is the ¨meia morada¨ house [a small Dutch-style house with a single door and two windows]. It belongs to an architectural style that has existed for centuries and still characterizes the urban configuration of towns that are situated in the interior of several states in the North-East. For the purposes of this study, the town of Quebrangulo has been chosen as a benchmark. It has 11 thousand inhabitants and is located in the wild landscape of the State of Alagoas. Within a passage taken from this research study, some houses were chosen that have been inhabited by traditional families who have remained there since the time they were first built. Thus they have accompanied the aging of those who dwell in them. Comforted and warmed by a wide array of decorative and religious objects, they are impregnated with the household experiences that underline the value of their faith and memories. By becoming acquainted with these houses through empirical observation and the narrative accounts of their residents, the researchers carried out an investigation into the ways they are inhabited, giving priority to the affective relationships that are established by the inhabitants within the spaces they occupy. This study is divided into three parts: the first examines the town of Quebrangulo; the second entails a close examination of the houses which form the passage that has been discussed in the current literature on the subject. The aim of this is to understand how these buildings appear in the setting of Quebrangulo; the third part is an attempt to get to know these houses from inside and to understand their dynamics. These different parts involved exploring the domestic surroundings in greater depth so that they could be seen in guided visits conducted by the residents themselves: the living-rooms, passages, bedrooms, kitchens and gardens. Prominence was given to reflecting on how religious feelings play a part in the dwellings examined in this study.