Playful Revolutions in Protected Areas

The Meanings of the Caiçara Leisure Practices in the Costa do Sol State Park (RJ)

Abstract

The field of leisure studies translates, to a large extent, a modern-westernized worldview, inherited from a historical perspective of a homogenizing Cartesian tradition. From this perspective, the different dimensions of existence have been fragmented, in order to explain reality, by a simplistic and limited perspective. However, this movement tends to silence complex experiences, especially in the territories of the Global South. In order to contribute to a decolonial discussion on the topic, the objective of this article is to decode the meaning of leisure practices in the narratives of caiçara populations, in connection with the Costa do Sol State Park, a Conservation Unit (CU) of Full Protection that integrates a diversified mosaic of protected areas in the state of Rio de Janeiro. As a methodological path, the research was based on a bibliographic survey and the production of caiçara narratives. Attentive listening to these narratives made it possible to identify 12 interpretative axes on the counter-hegemonic meanings of leisure in the CU in question. From the local perspective, the meaning of leisure is mainly linked to the struggle for social transformation, based on the playful experience of culture in the daily life of the community, based on engagement to strengthen social ties and connect with nature.