Emma Rueter, a University graduate student, will discuss the relation that the physical act of walking has to class structure in Brazil during a lecture called “Walking in Brazil: Itinerancy, Subjectivity and the State” in the Department of Anthropology’s spring brown bag lecture series. The event will be held at noon today in room 101 of the International Studies building, 910 S. Fifth St.

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies(CLACS) is sponsoring the lecture.

Rueter currently is writing her dissertation on walking in Brazil. She said in an e-mail that the lecture will focus on two main groups of people: tourist pilgrims and low-income itinerants. Rueter will discuss the unique views of each group concerning the task of walking. For instance, she said that walking is a leisurely activity for the tourist pilgrims.

For most people, walking is “a passion, a self-discipline, a physical and social outlet that serves as a unique vehicle for individual and collective self-reflection and self-presentation,” Rueter said.

She said, however, that this view is not at all how low-income citizens look at walking in Brazil.

“To low-income itinerants, walking is often a non-choice as it is the only means of transit in circumstances of poverty,” Rueter said. “Itinerant walking habits are often stigmatized and accompanied by negative social stereotypes of marginal status.”

Rueter’s dissertation states that “practices of long-distance walking serve as a window onto discrepant landscapes of travel and migration in Brazil.”

Tim Smith, associate director of CLACS, helped organize the series and said this event is just one of the many that aims to accomplish the center’s goal to promote Latin American culture. CLACS, in cooperation with the University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, hopes this lecture will bring together faculty and students who have a common interest in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the CLACS Web site.

Nancy Solorio, freshman in LAS, has taken anthropology courses at the University and plans on attending the lecture.

“I took Anthropology 182 (Latin American Cultures) last semester, and it furthered my interest in studying and learning about Latin America,” Solorio said. “This lecture would be a great way to learn about Brazil in a way that I might never have thought of myself.”

Rueter said that she believes the walking habits of people in Brazil are affected by countless factors, including “national and transnational tourism markets, global walking movements and practices of self-fashioning through consumption and, on the other hand, by poverty, itinerancy, unemployment, underemployment and homelessness.

“Through these contrastive cases, I explore some of the complex and contradictory effects of neoliberal social and economic restructuring in Brazil,” Rueter said.

Helen Gibson, freshman in engineering, said she thinks the lecture will be an interesting opportunity to glimpse at a lifestyle that is not necessarily her own.

“I think it is important to know about other cultures and classes besides what we have here,” Gibson said. “A lot of people are sheltered in the fact that they have lived in one place most of their lives and don’t see many social differences.”