What’s the Value of a House: Wait, Struggle, and Improvement in a Militia-Controlled(?) Area in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

This paper discusses valuation regimes of houses in a militia area in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Drawing on fieldwork undertaken during the construction of a highway between 2012 and 2016, we propose considering removal processes as sociological objects relevant to the analysis of informal real estate markets. We show how waiting for the construction challenged residents and community leaders to fill the gaps between memories of the past, an uncertain present, and multiple future possibilities. Offered only three forms of compensation for removing their houses, residents established equivalences between past struggles and prospects for improvement. By exploring the multiple meanings of these categories and different forms of active waiting for the removal, we differentiate the logic and scale of the self-construction of houses from the militia urbanism in the region.