Dispositivos e tecnologias na casa - alterações no espaço e na sua apropriação

Abstract

This dissertation aims to study the effects and consequences that some devices or domestic technologies had on the house and on the ways of living. According to the proposed objectives, it was sought to choose a limited but broad group of objects, which as a whole could offer a complete vision about the different rooms and aspects of the house and daily life. In this way, there were selected some devices connected with the kitchen, cleaning and cooking, others connected with the bathroom and personal hygiene and, at last, some devices connected with the media. Therefore, the devices on which the investigation will focus are: the kitchen (as a room in the house), the stove, the washing machine, the refrigerator, the microwave oven, the bathroom (as a room in the house), the bathtub, the flush toilet, the television and the internet. One seeks to understand how and to what extent the use of these devices and technologies caused changes in the house and in the appropriation of its space, as well as if they affected the habits and human experiences. At last, it becomes relevant to relate the evolution of these devices with the evolution of concepts like domesticity, privacy and intimacy, of both the house and the individual.