Architecture in the Periphery: Teaching Women to Build Houses in Brazil

The spirit of the women who participate in the movements fighting for housing in Brazil is as hard as lime and wood. As a majority in land occupations, they vigorously coordinate organizational and political practices of settlement and popular housing construction. It is no wonder that many of the occupations of the MST (Landless Rural Workers' Movement) or the MTST (Homeless Workers' Movement) carry the names of women such as Dandara, a quilombo leader from the colonial period.

Architecture in the Periphery: Teaching Women to Build Houses in Brazil
In the workshops, women learn together the basic principles of building construction. Image © Arquitetura da Periferia. Courtesy of Portal Aprendiz In the workshops, women learn together the basic principles of building construction. Image © Arquitetura da Periferia. Courtesy of Portal Aprendiz

The spirit of the women who participate in the movements fighting for housing in Brazil is as hard as lime and wood. As a majority in land occupations, they vigorously coordinate organizational and political practices of settlement and popular housing construction. It is no wonder that many of the occupations of the MST (Landless Rural Workers' Movement) or the MTST (Homeless Workers' Movement) carry the names of women such as Dandara, a quilombo leader from the colonial period.

Read more »