From wagons to asphalt

local power and use of territory in Anápolis/GO (1936-1976)

Abstract

We star from the analysis of Anápolis’ Commercial and Industrial Association (ACIA), in the state of Goiás, Brazil, through which, in documental and thorough research, we found issues that help comprehending the formation and use of Anápolis’ territory in its infrastructural and symbolic order. The methodology was based on the study of sociohistorical conditions of choosen actors and on reading and cataloguing of minutes of meetings produced by the entity. The suggested temporal cut was due to the objective of thinking, with aid from the minutes of meetings, the role of ACIA in processes of production and use of Anápolis’ and Goiás’ territories, of which we highlight rail and road transportation. We thus undertake a rigorous study of this time interval (1936-1976) and conclude that the association and social class represented by it were inserted in the local power frame of Anápolis through symbolic power gathered by individual actors, and used this political capital to make claims to the State. Although they had success in some of these claims, Anápolis’ dominant class was often left aside in favor of Brasília, the new national capital at the time, and mostly of Goiânia, then recent-built state capital of Goiás.