“Se essa rua falasse”: uma análise sobre estigma, pobreza e uso de drogas nas trajetórias de sujeitos em situação de rua

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to understand the perception of the stigmatization process in alcohol and other drugs users in the homeless at city of Juiz de Fora (MG). For this, ethnographic inspiration methodology was used, with a participant observation period followed by semi-structured interviews based on the life story method. The realization of the research also allowed to reach the specific objectives of: understanding the experiences of stigmatization in relation to the trajectories of vulnerability; to check the strategies used to deal with the stigmas; and understand the relationship between drug use and street condition. The work is structured in five chapters. The first three theoretically discuss questions related to the main categories of work: poverty, street situation, drugs and stigma. The following two chapters detail the method used and the results and discussions. Thus, from an analysis based on the historicity and the relationship between structural and individual factors, one arrives at important reflections that indicate, among other considerations: life trajectories conformed in poverty; themes as drugs, religion, family, work and consumption as fundamental in these trajectories; self-blame and concomitant individualization of problems; and the reproduction of liberal, stigmatizing and moralizing values by means of this population. In this sense, whereas the homeless exposes the societal limits of capital, structural changes, as well as a serious debate about drug policies and public and social policies, are necessary.