Insurgent voices of homelessness in Brazil: discursive relations between Movimento Nacional da População de Rua and State

Abstract

Considering the dialogical power and potential transformation of insurgent discourses, this paper focuses on promoting a critical reflection on the discursive representations of Movimento Nacional da População em Situação de Rua (National Movement of Population in Homelessness) (MNPR) in texts constructed within the scope of mobilization for social inclusion of the homeless population in Brazil. In order to do so, we analyzed excerpts from the interaction with leaders of the national coordination of the MNPR as voices which mobilize resistance to the role of the State in the application and maintenance of fundamental rights to the homeless people in Brazil. For the analysis, therefore, we used the Synchronic-Diachronic Analysis (Pardo, 2011) as a basic method for our reflections, in articulation with our research objectives. As the main results of the study, we observed that the MNPR has a different discursive attitude among the interviewed coordinators: they oscillate between a discourse of rupture and also a search for autonomy in the face of complex relations with the State. Thus, the discursive level of social performance of the MNPR, according to the analyzes, indicates that the intricate nature of these relations impacts the social mobilization and the advancement for social change for the homeless population in Brazil.