LEISURE AS A PROTAGONIST OF RESISTANCE AND FIGHT

Abstract

Based on research on leisure for young people in Ouro Preto, this article presents reflections on the role of social memory, the intersectionality of race and social class, public leisure policies in tourist cities and leisure as a social right, seeking to what extent leisure practices can be protagonists of empowerment for the subjects crossed by the social markers of difference in a peripheral neighborhood of a world heritage city. Using action-research as a methodology, a festive and cultural day was developed as a mechanism for promoting leisure and re-appropriating the public space that has always been a “stage” for the expression of local culture and social interaction around the iconographic landmarks located in the neighborhood. Finally, it was understood that this festivity proposed as a moment of celebration, belonging and reaffirmation of the local identity rescued part of the collective memory that was erased and was able to contribute to rekindling the flame of the process of personal and social transformation of the community.