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Abstract

In spite of the increasing visibility of cultural activities for young people in the peripheries of large cities, free time among poor youth is usually understood as a sign of poverty, alienation and threats. This article discusses these conceptions and presents ethnographic observations of free time among young people living in a poor community in Recife. The study of practices of conversation and games on the street can provide observers with a better understanding of the relations between genders and among generations, identify the logic of sociability, and observe how youngsters deal with violence. In addition, the study of a number of institutions that offer activities to occupy young people’s free time allows one to analyze the discourse of the fight against idleness, a very important issue in these institutions. The data was obtained from anthropological research, including participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and questionnaires.