One of the most striking examples of popular architecture in the North-East of Brazil is the ¨meia morada¨ house [a small Dutch-style house with a single door and two windows]. It belongs to an architectural style that has existed for centuries and still characterizes the urban configuration of towns that are situated in the interior of several states in the North-East. For the purposes of this study, the town of Quebrangulo has been chosen as a benchmark. It has 11 thousand inhabitants and is located in the wild landscape of the State of Alagoas. Within a passage taken from this research study, some houses were chosen that have been inhabited by traditional families who have remained there since the time they were first built. Thus they have accompanied the aging of those who dwell in them. Comforted and warmed by a wide array of decorative and religious objects, they are impregnated with the household experiences that underline the value of their faith and memories. By becoming acquainted with these houses through empirical observation and the narrative accounts of their residents, the researchers carried out an investigation into the ways they are inhabited, giving priority to the affective relationships that are established by the inhabitants within the spaces they occupy. This study is divided into three parts: the first examines the town of Quebrangulo; the second entails a close examination of the houses which form the passage that has been discussed in the current literature on the subject. The aim of this is to understand how these buildings appear in the setting of Quebrangulo; the third part is an attempt to get to know these houses from inside and to understand their dynamics. These different parts involved exploring the domestic surroundings in greater depth so that they could be seen in guided visits conducted by the residents themselves: the living-rooms, passages, bedrooms, kitchens and gardens. Prominence was given to reflecting on how religious feelings play a part in the dwellings examined in this study. / Dentre as várias manifestações da arquitetura popular no Nordeste, destacam-se as casas de meia morada, tipologia arquitetônica que atravessa séculos e ainda hoje marca a configuração urbana das cidades interioranas de vários estados nordestinos. Para este estudo, foi tomada como referência a cidade de Quebrangulo, que tem pouco mais de 11 mil habitantes e fica localizada no agreste do estado de Alagoas. Dentro do recorte coberto pela pesquisa, foram elegidas casas habitadas por antigas famílias que ali permanecem desde a sua construção. Assim, elas acompanham o envelhecimento de seus moradores. Acalentadas por um acúmulo de objetos decorativos e religiosos, tangenciam experiências de habitar em que ganham destaque a fé e a memória. Acessando estas casas por meio da observação empírica e das narrativas dos seus moradores, investigou-se as maneiras como são habitadas, privilegiando as relações afetivas que as pessoas estabelecem com o espaço por elas habitado. O trabalho estrutura-se em três blocos: a primeira parte apresenta a cidade de Quebrangulo; a segunda constitui uma aproximação das casas que compõem o recorte proposto primeiramente através da literatura corrente sobre o assunto para então entender como estas edificações se apresentam em Quebrangulo; a terceira parte é um esforço de conhecer as casas por dentro para compreender suas dinâmicas. Adentra-se nos ambientes domésticos tal como eles vão sendo apresentados nas visitas guiadas pelos próprios moradores: salas, corredores, quartos, cozinhas e quintais. Há destaque para uma reflexão sobre como a religiosidade participa do habitar das casas em estudo.

Ce mémoire se penche sur les discours citoyens des Lavallois lorsqu’il est question de l'altérité ethnoculturelle dans leur quartier de banlieue. Cela implique de poser un regard sur le contexte spécifique de la ville de Laval pour y déchiffrer les arrimages entre rapport à l'espace et rapport à l'altérité ethnique dans l'expérience des répondants. Cette recherche qui se situe donc à la croisée des domaines des relations ethniques, de la géographie sociale et des études urbaines permet d’ancrer les représentations de l’altérité ethnoculturelle dans l’espace social et physique de la banlieue. Dans ce cadre, le discours de citoyens lavallois issus de deux quartiers ayant connu différents processus de croissance urbaine et de diversification ethnique sont analysés. Pour une majorité de répondants, les changements urbains récents témoignent d'une diversification de l'espace habité, ce qui est généralement mal perçu. Les manifestations d’altérité ethnoculturelle dans l’espace public et privé lavallois sont aussi associées à une détérioration du lien social dans la communauté du quartier. Au terme de cette étude, je soutiens que la présence d'immigrants est imbriquée dans les récents changements urbains dans la ville de Laval et que ces derniers sont directement associés à la perte du statut convoité de banlieue idéale. / This master's thesis addresses citizen discourses, regarding ethnocultural otherness in suburban neighborhood of Laval. To do so, I focus on the specific context of the city of Laval to detangle the relations between space and ethnocultural otherness from the perspective of the inhabitants. This research, thus standing at the crossroads of ethnic studies, social geography and urban studies, enables an anchoring of the representation of ethnocultural diversity in both the social and physical spaces of the suburb. Within this framework, the discourses of the Lavallois, coming from two neighbourhoods each characterized by different processes of urban development and ethnic diversification are analyzed. For a majority of our sample, the recent changes in the urban landscape attest of a diversification in the inhabited space that generally evokes a negative response. The presence of ethnocultural otherness in the public and private spaces of Laval is also linked to a perceived degradation of the social bond in their community. At the study's conclusion, I argue that the perception of immigrants is intertwined in the recent urban changes occurring in the city of Laval. As such, immigrants are directly associated with the loss of the idealized suburban branding.