Space and sociabilities: between the Beco and the ghetto

Abstract

This article reflects about the Beco dos Artistas (Artists’ Alley), a place located in Salvador, capital city of the state of Bahia, Brazil. The Beco dos Artistas is an alley where we can find four bars, and that is characterized by being a space of GLS sociability. For many, it is a gay ghetto. However, the Beco dos Artistas was not always considered a place for homosexuals. In late seventies and early eighties, it kept a very strong link with Salvador´s artistic and intellectual classes, deriving its name from them. My purpose is to reflect about the changing meanings accorded to the Beco dos Artistas throughout its history in terms of identity, and to consider how social markers as race, class and sexuality contributed to the present stigmatization of the place. The data analyzed here were obtained through ethnographic observation carried out from 2008 to 2010.