Migration, mobility and cities of Amazônia: stories from Xinguara (PA)

Abstract

For decades, the formation of the cities of Southern Pará has been occurring through combinations
of economic cycles and population displacements. The article presents the experience of
migration of those residents of Xinguara who lived the initial times of the transformation of the city
and the region, provided by the activities of logging, gold mining and occupation of lands. It is
proposed that mobility in and between the Amazonian “border cities” is taken as an expression
of a set of values that conceive “walking” as part of life. In this way, we understand that the
analysis of urban processes must consider the narratives of lives in tension between flows and
stops, the boundary contexts marked by joys and challenges of the unfolding of the new, but
also by the destructive violence against certain groups, environment and pre-existing ways of
life.