From Europe with passion: frameworks of the touristic male desire of Ponta Negra,in the North-East of Brazil

Based upon multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork, this article debates the constitution of a particular type of transatlantic touristic flows from the European continent to the cosmopolitan beach neighbourhood of Ponta Negra, in Natal, capital city of the state of Rio Grande do Norte in the North-East of Brazil. These flows are predominantly male and are quite evidently permeated by issues related to passion, personal relations and sexual intimacy. The main objective of the analysis is to attempt to map and understand the most influential social and cultural frameworks (biographical paths of intimacy, gender relationships, subjectivities, the production and circulation of representations of Brazil, homosociabilities) in the definition and substantiation of the foreign male tourist's desire to visit Ponta Negra. It thus constitutes an attempt to socially and culturally locate the option of travelling to this leisure destination, on the part of both first-time visitors and the numerous individuals who repeatedly visit Ponta Negra over the years.