1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910787030703321

Autore

Penglase Ben

Titolo

Living with insecurity in a Brazilian favela : urban violence and daily life / / R. Ben Penglase

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Brunswick, New Jersey : , : Rutgers University Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

0-8135-6545-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (224 p.)

Disciplina

307.3/364098153

Soggetti

Marginality, Social - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Violence - Social aspects - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Urban poor - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Slums - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Squatter settlements - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Drug traffic - Social aspects - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Police brutality - Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

Caxambu (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Social conditions

Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. "To Live Here You Have To Know How To Live" -- 2. "Now You Know What It's Like": Ethnography In A State Of (In)Security -- 3. A Familiar Hillside And Dangerous Intimates -- 4. Tubarão And Seu Lázaro'S Dog: Drug Traffickers And Abnormalization -- 5. "The Men Are In The Area": Police, Race, And Place -- 6. Conclusion: "It Was Here That Estela Was Shot" -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About The Author

Sommario/riassunto

The residents of Caxambu, a squatter neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, live in a state of insecurity as they face urban violence. Living with Insecurity in a Brazilian Favela examines how inequality, racism, drug trafficking, police brutality, and gang activities affect the daily lives of the people of Caxambu.  Some Brazilians see these communities, known as favelas, as centers of drug trafficking that exist beyond the



control of the state and threaten the rest of the city. For other Brazilians, favelas are symbols of economic inequality and racial exclusion. Ben Penglase's ethnography goes beyond these perspectives to look at how the people of Caxambu themselves experience violence.  Although the favela is often seen as a war zone, the residents are linked to each other through bonds of kinship and friendship. In addition, residents often take pride in homes and public spaces that they have built and used over generations. Penglase notes that despite poverty, their lives are not completely defined by illegal violence or deprivation. He argues that urban violence and a larger context of inequality create a social world that is deeply contradictory and ambivalent. The unpredictability and instability of daily experiences result in disagreements and tensions, but the residents also experience their neighborhood as a place of social intimacy. As a result, the social world of the neighborhood is both a place of danger and safety.