Favela Dwellers Research Articles

The Allegory of the Favela: The Multifaceted Effects of Socioeconomic Mobility

What are the consequences of upward socioeconomic mobility for disenfranchised individuals? This article examines this question in the context of a business training program offered to residents of Brazilian urban slums, known as “favelas.” The study employs a randomized controlled trial complemented by quantile regressions, field visits, and interviews. The results show that training improves favela dwellers’ economic outcomes, such as by increasing income and participation in entrepreneurship, and some socio-psychological outcomes, such as by improving self-efficacy and optimism. However, these income improvements were accompanied by participants’ enhanced experiences of favela stigma, an adverse socio-psychological outcome related to their residential segregation. Both quantitative and qualitative findings demonstrate the multifaceted nature of socioeconomic mobility, through which favela dwellers who prosper economically become more exposed to prejudice from people living outside favelas. The study illustrates, through the “allegory of the favela,” the bittersweet process of socioeconomic mobility. This abductive research contributes to the literature by showing that while interventions designed to enfranchise individuals may effectively achieve economic inclusion in terms of income gains, they may simultaneously lead participants into discriminatory systems that further stigmatize people based on the same characteristics of their prior exclusion.

Social Occupational Therapy, Impoverished Youth, and Everyday Urban Mobility

ABSTRACT Considering social participation as an objective in Social Occupational Therapy, we discuss the incorporation of the concept of Everyday Urban Mobility from four of its action technologies: (a) workshops/activities, dynamics and projects; b) individual territorial follow-ups; c) articulation of resources in the social field; d) dynamization of the support network. Based on data from a research study with impoverished young favela dwellers in Brazil, this study included a secondary analysis of these data, and discusses how urban mobility could be incorporated into social occupational therapy practices. We conclude that social occupational therapy (from a political perspective of mobility), can develop actions to facilitate the urban mobility of young people and use it as a point of departure for occupational therapy professional practice. In doing so, it becomes possible to apply mobility as an objective, a resource, a means of assessing everyday life, and/or an aspect to be considered in micro- and macro-social work endeavours that are linked to social policies. Key words: Social Occupational Therapy, Youth, Right to Freedom of Movement, Citizenship, Urbanization.

Epistemic injustice, risk mapping and climatic events: analysing epistemic resistance in the context of favela removal in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract. Environmental and climate justice scholarship has increasingly focused on how knowledge and expertise play into the production of injustice and into strategies of resistance and activist claim making. We consider the epistemic injustice at work within the practices of risk mapping and assessment applied in Rio de Janeiro to justify the clearance of favela communities. We trace how in the wake of landslides in 2010, the city authorities moved towards a removal policy justified in the name of protecting lives and becoming resilient to climate change. We examine how favela dwellers, activists and counter-experts joined efforts to develop a partially successful epistemic resistance that contested the knowledge on which this policy was based. We use this case to reflect on the situated character of both technologies of risk and the emergence of epistemic resistance, on the relationship between procedural and epistemic justice, and on the challenges for instilling more just climate adaptation strategies.

Public-Private Partnerships Promoting Prosperity: Evidence From Brazilian Favelas

To what extent does a public-private partnership promote socioeconomic prosperity among the disenfranchised? Non-profit organizations operating in resource-scarce settings often act as “institutional intermediaries,” which create and develop institutions in settings with market failures. The literature usually considers the actions of institutional intermediaries in isolation from public authorities. Nevertheless, these intermediaries can partner with public organizations through public-private partnerships (PPPs). This paper aims to evaluate the impact of a PPP to promote development in a resource-scarce setting, the Brazilian favelas (i.e., urban slums). To this end, I use mixed-methods, combining a randomized controlled trial (RCT) and a computation textual analysis. My results show that the PPP improves favela dwellers both labor market outcomes, such as entrepreneurship and income; and socio-psychological outcomes, such as self-efficacy and optimism/positivity. Surprisingly, however, the partnership hurts perceptions of social stigma, which increase among participants. Qualitative evidence points to what I call the “getting out of the ghetto” effect, in which participants feel more stigmatized after the partnership program because they are more likely to engage in social interactions with people from outside the favela. This paper seeks to advance the recent call for more management research focusing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Brazilian youth experiencing poverty: Everyday life in the favela

ABSTRACT Based on a comprehensive perspective of reality, this study aimed to analyze the representations that young dwellers of a Brazilian favela have about that place, focusing on the impacts on urban mobility and everyday life. Data were collected through workshops conducted with young people attending a non-governmental organization located in a favela in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The participants were seven youngsters aged 15-21 years. During the workshops, the participants constructed a “City of Youth” with the purpose of representing what they wanted for a city. They discussed whether or not there would be a favela in this city and its residents’ access to other spaces in the city, especially to leisure areas. It was observed that poverty is an important social marker in the representations about Brazilian favelas, and that the stigma associated with them are incorporated and reproduced by their youth. These facts reflect the possibilities and impossibilities of urban mobility of young favela dwellers, directly affecting their everyday lives and limiting their opportunities for social participation and access to social life.

Power Imbalances in Favela-Upgrading Practices in São Paulo, Brazil

Favelas in São Paulo, Brazil have been undergoing major transformations since the 1980s with the rise of upgrading programs. These programs are widely seen as ways of alleviating urban vulnerability. However, the fact that they change the political structure of favelas, causing power imbalances, goes often untold. This article discusses the outcomes of upgrading efforts in Favela do Sapé, placing a special emphasis on the social actors involved in the upgrading. Characters such as favela dwellers, governments, and parallel powers are assessed through a power planning lens. The present analysis also focuses on the social actors’ relational possibilities that are aimed at changing the power scenarios of favelas.

A Socio‐Technical Perspective To The Right To The City: Regularizing Electricity Access in Rio de Janeiro's Favelas

AbstractThis article takes the contemporary transformation in electricity access in Rio de Janeiro's favelas as a starting point for a broader review of the relationship between the right to the city in informal settlements and the neoliberalization of the electricity service (introduction of full cost recovery and ‘the user pays' principle). It examines the socio‐technical process through which contractual customer relationships have been established or restored through regularization of the electricity service in two favelas, namely, the installation of meters and networks. I suggest that applying a science and technology study perspective to the right to the city helps explore both the materiality and the spatial dimension of power and politics and, in so doing, provides an insight into some of the forms of mediation that help reshape recognition, urban practices and the favela dwellers' position within such an essential service. Our analysis shows how the means of recognizing these city dwellers ‘by the network' are materially and symbolically reshaped by commercial processes. The question then is whether this right to the city, which is being reshaped by commercial processes, will be the source of new inequalities or new politicizations.

Forced Evictions and Black-Indigenous Land Rights in the Marvelous City

Preparations for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil have uncovered the serious issue of forced evictions in Rio de Janeiro. Forced evictions mostly affect economically and racially marginalized Brazilians who, in Rio de Janeiro, form the majority in slum tenements known as favelas. Of the marginalized, the groups that have had the most success have been indigenous and Afro-Brazilian quilombolas—descendants of escaped slaves who formed communities in remote locations. Using ideas presented in Juliet Hooker’s essay, “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion”, as the theoretical foundation, I argue that indigenous and quilombolas in Rio de Janeiro have been more successful in protecting their land and property interests because they have additional rights to land that favela dwellers do not possess. Nevertheless, police violence and continued attempts at forced eviction due to discrimination as well as ineffective and indifferent governance show the futility of these extra rights.

“Esculacho” and other spoken meanings of pacification in Rio de Janeiro

Broad approach to what we called “Perceptions of Leadership, 'State Lies,' and the Esculacho in the Favela: The Anthropology of Pacification in Rio de Janeiro.” Based on the idea that there is great diversity among and within favelas. Their specific histories in building associations and in developing drug traffic, as well as the local UPP style of handling local affairs, are the keys for understanding the open conflicts or the cooperation between police and dwellers. Since favelas do not have the same history, since the commander style varies, since practices of officers and soldiers in UPPs are not homogeneous, one cannot generalize how residents evaluate and accept this new policing inside favelas. Zaluar’s original fieldwork consists of interviews of UPP officers, community leaders, and favela dwellers, and ultimately paints a nuanced picture of an entire spectrum of reactions to UPPs.

FORCED EVICTIONS AND BLACK-INDIGENOUS LAND RIGHTS IN THE MARVELOUS CITY

Preparations for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil have uncovered the serious issue of forced evictions in Rio de Janeiro. Forced evictions mostly affect economically and racially marginalized Brazilians who, in Rio de Janeiro, form the majority in slum tenements known as favelas. Of the marginalized, the groups that have had the most success have been indigenous and Afro-Brazilian quilombolas—descendants of escaped slaves who formed communities in remote locations. Using ideas presented in Juliet Hooker’s essay, “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion”, as the theoretical foundation, I argue that indigenous and quilombolas in Rio de Janeiro have been more successful in protecting their land and property interests because they have additional rights to land that favela dwellers do not possess. Nevertheless, police violence and continued attempts at forced eviction due to discrimination as well as ineffective and indifferent governance show the futility of these extra rights.

“ESCULACHO” AND OTHER SPOKEN MEANINGS OF PACIFICATION IN RIO DE JANEIRO

Broad approach to what we called “Perceptions of Leadership, 'State Lies,' and the Esculacho in the Favela: The Anthropology of Pacification in Rio de Janeiro.” Based on the idea that there is great diversity among and within favelas. Their specific histories in building associations and in developing drug traffic, as well as the local UPP style of handling local affairs, are the keys for understanding the open conflicts or the cooperation between police and dwellers. Since favelas do not have the same history, since the commander style varies, since practices of officers and soldiers in UPPs are not homogeneous, one cannot generalize how residents evaluate and accept this new policing inside favelas. Zaluar’s original fieldwork consists of interviews of UPP officers, community leaders, and favela dwellers, and ultimately paints a nuanced picture of an entire spectrum of reactions to UPPs.

PROTEÇÃO AMBIENTAL PARA QUEM? A INSTRUMENTALIZAÇÃO DA ECOLOGIA CONTRA O DIREITO À MORADIA

This article has two main objectives: a) to briefly present and discuss some technical terms, concepts and approaches that deserve to receive more attention on the part of those Brazilian researchers who devote themselves to the field of urban studies from a perspective concerned with social justice (and with the obstacles that constrain or prevent it); b) to outline a research agenda regarding the conflicts over land use linked to the ideological friction between the right to housing and environmental protection. After an introductory discussion on the concept of environmental justice and its relevance to social struggles - contextualising the analysis with help of the concept of 'urban eco-geopolitics' -, it is offered a critical treatment of the term 'environmental risk.' Finally, as the main 'laboratory' that provides empirical support for the arguments developed in the text, the paper presents what can be understood as an emblematic case study of conservative exploitation of the discourse of 'environmental protection': the threat of forced eviction under which favela dwellers of the 'buffer zone' of the Tijuca National Park (Rio de Janeiro) have suffered.

Hard Times in the Marvelous City: From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro. By Bryan McCann (Durham, Duke University Press, 2013) 256 pp. $24.95

<i>Hard Times in the Marvelous City: From Dictatorship to Democracy in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro</i>. By Bryan McCann (Durham, Duke University Press, 2013) 256 pp. $24.95

“It’s Not Easy, I Ask for Public Mobility and the Government Sends Skull Against Me”: An Intimate Account of the Political Protests in Rio de Janeiro (June &amp; July, 2013)

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Between June 3 and June 30, 2013, protesters took over the streets of Rio de Janeiro, demanding lower ticket fares for public transportation. On June 6, the demonstrations against the fare increase were unified under the name The National Action Against Fare Increase.On June 15, the 2014 FIFA World Cup countdown started with the first game of the Confederations Cup. It was accompanied by the enforcement of emergency laws and security strategies around the opulently renovated stadiums, which had reopened in six of the 12 cities that would eventually host the World Cup in 2014. In order to broadcast its objections to not only the World Cup but also to the Confederations Cup-targeting, in particular, its disgust with the contract between FIFA and the Brazilian government (a crucial part of the protests because of government's agreement to host the Cup in the first place)-the National Coordination of People's Committee for the Cup (ANCOP)2 planned a Jornada de Lutas (Fighting Expedition), which happened concurrently with the Confederations Cup in most of the 12 cities.The sheer volume of people on the streets-eventually totaling more than one million on June 20-was greater than past protests in Brazil. From within the popular movement, the initial claims-questioning the forced removal of poor residents from their homes, opposing the reforms in the public space from FIFA's commitments, and opposing the fare increase- multiplied. Protesters raised colorful cardboard signs, both handwritten and painted, revealing new demands: end corruption, end urban violence, reject Constitutional Amendments 33 and 37,3 remove various elected representatives from office, instill peace in the streets, and love your country. Although these proliferating statements seemed disparate, these claims underscored a national morality of sorts, and the feelings that these signs nourished extended even to small cities, where protests were also organized.Offthe streets, journalists, researchers, and political analysts all used the demonstrations as an occasion to reflect on the end of Brazil's military dictatorship (1964-1985), usually by exalting democracy. Everyone was stunned by the fullness of the images, sounds, and air coming from the streets. Several attempts have been made to explain what happened in Brazil in June 2013. A few of these commentators explained the events through a historical understanding, proposing comparisons between different periods of world history and in very different countries and contexts. Some were resentful because they could not predict what might come. Others were concerned they would be criticized: they felt that their role was to opine on events, but were wary of making rash statements. We were all trying to figure out what was happening very quickly, and we wondered whether the situation would spiral out of control.4 Although I myself am a researcher, I am also a member of this of anguished interpreters. From this angle, I will try to describe the riots in Brazil from my personal experience as a protester in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. With interlocutors such as members of social networks composed of favela dwellers, social movement participants, activists, researchers, and students, my research continually involved me being affected (Favret- Saada 2005:155). What I describe here goes back and forth between two dimensions of ethnography that are often understood to be antagonistic: neutrality and being affected. I must confess that at the outset, however, my enthusiasm to clarify my commitments with the studied group and my deepest criticism over the nature of the data collected in these conditions (Cardoso 1987:37) was not epistemologically balanced. Indeed, this narrative of my experience in the protests represents my search for two things: 1) that I might be able to advance the causes that I take the movement to stand for more than try[ing] to understand them; and 2) that these descriptions might contribute not only to the debates that are taking place in the present, but also to those in the future. …

Participatory Content Creation and Collective Intelligence in Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas

This proposal combines ethnographic techniques and discourse studies to investigate a collective of people engaged with audiovisual productions who collaborate in Curta Favela’s workshops in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. ‘Favela’ is often translated simply as ‘slum’ or ‘shantytown’, but these terms connote negative characteristics such as shortage, poverty, and deprivation which end up stigmatizing these low income suburbs. Curta Favela (Favela Shorts) is an independent project in which all participants join to use photography and participatory audiovisual production as tools for social change and to raise consciousness. As cameras are not affordable for favela dwellers, Curta Favela’s volunteers teach favela residents how they can use their mobile phones and compact cameras to take pictures and make movies, and afterwards, how they can edit the data using free editing video software programs and publish it on the Internet. To record audio, they use their mp3 or mobile phones. The main aim of this study is to shed light not only on how this project operates, but also to highlight how collective intelligence can be used as a way of fighting against a lack of basic resources.

Autonomia, gênero e gravidez na adolescência: uma análise comparativa da experiência de adolescentes e mulheres jovens provenientes de camadas médias e populares em Belo Horizonte

The present study investigates how class and gender inequalities work toward reducing the level of self-sufficiency of adolescents (15 to 19 years) and young women (20 to 24 years), influencing their sexual and reproductive behavior, specifically with the experience of a teenage pregnancy. In the analysis, the authors used data from two surveys, with a total sample of 648 young females between 15 and 24 years of age: 292 residents in middle class neighborhoods, and 356 from favelas (slums) in the center-south region of the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Results showed an overall prevalence of 27.3% of pregnancy up to 19 years among teenagers living in favelas, and of 1.7% among dwellers of the center-south region neighborhoods of Belo Horizonte. Data point toward a direct relationship between teenage pregnancy and control and violence by partners. Among favela dwellers, 48% of those who declared having been physically abused by their partner, and 58% of those who declared having been sexually abused had been pregnant at least once before the age of 19. The association between gender violence and pregnancy during adolescence remained, even if controlled for social class, although its weight was more pronounced among low income youth. These results strengthen the importance of in-depth understanding of the impact of class and gender inequalities in sexual and reproductive behavior of adolescents and young women.

Beyond Curitiba: The rise of a participatory model for urban intervention in Brazil

This article uses the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte as a case-study to show that beyond the centralized planning model that prevailed in the 1970s, a new model of urban intervention has developed, based on the participatory budget and focused on the most vulnerable portion of the Brazilian urban population: the favela dwellers. While larger Brazilian cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have a deeper history of intervention in the favelas, this article focuses on Belo Horizonte as the polar opposite to the well-known model of Curitiba. If we agree that any real sustainable urbanism should be built upon a participatory community, the favela's interventions carried on in Belo Horizonte might rise to the occasion as a promising alternative.

Poverty as Deprivation of Freedom: The Case of Vidigal Shantytown in Rio de Janeiro

This article applies the concept of poverty as insufficiency of basic capabilities in measuring living conditions of residents of a favela (shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro, the Vidigal favela. For this purpose, we develop a methodology to operationalize the capability approach. Our choice of this approach is justified by a perceived discrepancy between the ordinary judgments of the people of Rio de Janeiro, who generally regard favela dwellers as poor, and those of poverty experts, who believe that favela dwellers cannot be considered (income) poor on average. Our results show that while favela inhabitants may not be income poor, they are nonetheless very poor in freedom. Living in a favela by itself imposes a sizable discount on people’s functionings. In addition, violence between drug gangs and between gangs and police, a common feature of Rio’s favelas, interferes negatively with people’s well‐being and opportunities for collective action, in such a way that even the traditional social capital often considered a peculiar form of wealth of favela dwellers is being eroded by it.