Abstract
The present article discusses the emergence and dynamics of community resilience by empirically investigating the case of the favela of Paraisópolis in São Paulo, Brazil. The emergence of innovative practices that initially contributed to significantly lower rates of COVID-19 infection and mortality when compared to the city average is described. The analytical framework combines two conceptual perspectives in the study of complex systems. First, resilience in socio-ecological systems highlights the adaptation processes characterized by an interplay of previous experience and emerging new knowledge. Second, the metacontingency framework describes the interplay between a cultural milieu, as a context for cultural practices; an aggregate product; and a selecting environment that embed the acquisition and continuity of interlocking behavioral contingencies. Research methods that combine elements of the descriptive analysis and an exploratory basic qualitative study are employed to understand how the community has self-organized during this period. The findings demonstrate how previous experience with social challenges facilitated self-organization and the emergence of innovative practices in the context of uncoordinated public health measures during the pandemic in Brazil. Furthermore, findings from interviews indicate the existence of positive feedback loops at the community level that facilitated the emergence of innovative practices. This study aims at contributing to the understanding of community resilience by identifying the geographic, psychological, and ecological factors (contextual variables) that facilitate responses to the pandemic.
Highlights
Much of the debate about the effectiveness of the responses to the COVID-19 outbreak has focused on the effects of public policies adopted by different governments around the world
The present study looked at the cultural milieu of Paraisópolis and the contextual factors related to the community response to the COVID-19 pandemic
As described by the two community leaders, the initial perceptions of the pandemic and possible threats to the community arose in February with news of the pandemics in Europe and Asia and projections that the limited number of ventilators in the Brazilian health sector could lead to thousands of deaths in Brazil
Summary
Much of the debate about the effectiveness of the responses to the COVID-19 outbreak has focused on the effects of public policies adopted by different governments around the world. Such interventions have ranged from highly restrictive social distancing measures, closing most public spaces, to rather flexible ones [1]. As claimed by Corburn et al [3], there is a need to understand the dynamics of the robust social web of interactions and knowledge emerging from these In this regard, Scott [4] provides a historical account of how large-scale policy initiatives have often failed in recognizing practical knowledge deriving from local interactions. Overcrowded spaces often make it challenging to control the spread of diseases that are transmitted by physical contact
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