Banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO: SAMANTA DE SOUSA LIMA

Uma banca de QUALIFICAÇÃO de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : SAMANTA DE SOUSA LIMA
DATE: 15/05/2026
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: online
TITLE:

THE CRIME SYNDICATE ON THE WALLS OF NATAL: GRAFFITI

AS A MARK OF TERRITORIAL CONTROL

KEY WORDS:

graffiti tagging; territoriality; Sindicato do Crime; Urban Anthropology.

PAGES: 78
BIG AREA: Ciências Humanas
AREA: Antropologia
SUBÁREA: Antropologia Urbana
SUMMARY:

This study examines how the Sindicato do Crime, a faction with a significant presence
in Natal, manifests territorial disputes through graffiti tagging, understood as
inscriptions that reveal specific socio-spatial dynamics. The study is based on the
hypothesis that graffiti tagging transcends the notion of deviance or a simple indicator
of criminality, functioning instead as an insurgent cartography that makes explicit
relations of power, belonging, and conflict, while simultaneously disrupting the city’s
established tourist landscape. The research is conducted using a qualitative
methodology, based on fieldwork carried out through trips on urban bus routes
connecting the neighborhoods of Felipe Camarão and Ponta Negra, combining
systematic observation of the routes, subjects, and spatialities with photographic
documentation of the inscriptions, landscapes, and urban flows. The research aims to
demonstrate that, in the current context, the Crime Syndicate acts as the primary agent
behind criminal graffiti tagging in Natal, playing a structuring role in the production and
organization of power relations within the urban space. Its inscriptions not only
designate territories and subjects but also perform territorial control by delimiting
boundaries, marking ownership, guiding behavior, and sustaining practices such as
parallel taxation and the imposition of hierarchies. Thus, the research demonstrates
that graffiti tagging plays a central role in the production, interpretation, and regulation
of contemporary urban territorialities, serving as an analytical key to understanding the
disputes that traverse the city.

 

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interna - 1868152 - GESLLINE GIOVANA BRAGA
Interna - 1642956 - JULIANA GONCALVES MELO
Interna - 1215344 - JULIE ANTOINETTE CAVIGNAC
Interna - 1149572 - LISABETE CORADINI