Transfluency: an urbanism perspective

Abstract

This paper problematizes the incorporation of the racial dimension into urban strains of social activism from the standpoint of the term “transfluency”. The concept was formulated by the quilombola thinker Nego Bispo to reflect – among other phenomena – the heterogeneous and vaguely articulated set of concepts of existence of the Black populations in Brazil. For Bispo, these experiences stem from diverse cosmologies and identity references that make up unique modes of resistance and collaboration specific to the geopolitical space-time of the Global South. In this theoretical approach, the goal is to promote critical reflection comparing concepts associated with struggle identities. In terms of methodology, we strive to correlate theoretical sources by connecting transfluency to the term “collective action repertoires”: a structured but flexible set of modes of action in cycles of activism. We hope that the analysis of insurgent events in view of the urban practices that took place at the Rio de Janeiro and Salvador harbors can create references for regional historiography. We consider that the combination of the idea of transfluency with the conceptual pair repertoire/performance is potentially capable of expanding the framework of study dedicated to modes of activism with a spatial aspect.