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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: February 9, 2020 at 3:55:48 PM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Socialisms]: Scott on Bezerra, 'Postcards from Rio: > Favelas and the Contested Geographies of Citizenship' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Kátia da Costa Bezerra. Postcards from Rio: Favelas and the > Contested Geographies of Citizenship. New York Fordham University > Press, 2017. 176 pp. $28.00 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8232-7655-4. > > Reviewed by Jason Scott (University of Colorado) > Published on H-Socialisms (February, 2020) > Commissioned by Gary Roth > > Citizenship in Rio's Favelas > > Kátia da Coasta Bezerra's _Postcards from Rio: Favelas and the > Contested Geographies of Citizenship _offers a highly insightful look > into the aesthetic commodification of Brazil's urban margins. Bezerra > sets out to challenge problematic narratives that "other" the favela > and frame Rio's less privileged communities in terms of abstract > violence. The book's strongest feature is a comprehensive description > of the Rio de Janeiro's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), > specifically Viva Rio and its community partners, that have helped to > nurture a generation of notable favela-based cultural producers and > activists who emerged at the start of the twenty-first century. By > exploring and detailing the perspectives of favela-based groups, the > author suggests alternative ways to conceptualize a divided city. > > Bezerra's broader argument suggests that the dominant visual > narratives concerning Rio promoted a commodification of the favela in > the years prior to Rio's hosting of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 > Olympics. During this time, authorities sought to promote an image of > inclusion, formality, and security. The inclusion of the favelas in > official proclamations and discussions had both positive and negative > impacts. On the positive side, there was a concerted effort to fund > favela-based organizations that provided services in traditionally > underdeveloped communities. For example, many of Bezerra's > interlocutors were photographers and educators who work in the favela > and are connected to Viva Rio, one of Rio's most important NGOs. But > there were also, as Bezerra references throughout the book, forced > removals and poorly intentioned projects that catered to tourists > rather than favela residents. > > _Postcards from Rio_ provides a snapshot of a unique historical > moment for Brazil during which neoliberal deregulation and > deinstitutionalization butted heads with policies designed by the > country's social democratic workers party. The development of > infrastructure in the favela was guided by a nebulous relationship > between NGOs, the Brazilian state, and favela residents. This unique > social hierarchy is reflected in the ways that knowledge and beliefs > are created about favela space. Imagery of the favela created during > this time reflected the everyday experience of favela residents and > also the intentions and desires of a state intent on reshaping > marginalized citizenship in twenty-first-century Brazil. Contributing > to a broader theoretical tradition concerning Brazil's favelas, > Bezerra argues that the multiplicity of gazes (e.g., governmental, > NGO, and residential) symbolized a contradiction within Rio's urban > spaces. > > The organization of the book follows the tradition of favela research > most notably implemented by Janice Perlman in her 1973 work, _The > Myth of Marginality_, where community examples are used to develop a > broader picture of marginality. The first and second chapters look at > collaborations between NGOs and community journalists who confront > Foucauldian heterotopias, or communities where everything is > perceived in negative terms. Bezerra contrasts heterotopic narratives > of violence and political disfunction in the favela that are > historically mobilized by Brazil's elite with narratives of > creativity and hope currently used by community activists. In this > sense, favela-based groups create dialogical visual narratives that > defy dominant hegemonies of seeing and assert an alternative gaze. > Chapter 3 compares representations produced at two separate moments > in Rio's urban development: the removal of favela residents in the > 1950s and favela improvement programs in the late 2000s. The fourth > chapter looks at the politics of representation that surround > favela-based cable car systems. Cable cars redefined both spatial and > aesthetic experiences within the favela. The final chapter examines > how Rio is being redefined by its newest museums. In general, Bezerra > structures the book in a way that shows the fluidity of urban space > and the multiplicity of experiences that constitute urban governance > in modern Brazil. > > While _Postcards from Rio_ grounds itself in several interesting case > studies, the book can be best read as a theoretical contemplation on > the nature of visual authority in a time of multifocal image > production and urban inequality. Nonetheless, greater ethnographic > reference to the everyday lived experiences of creating, promoting, > and consuming images would have strengthened the book. The author's > own scholarly training tends to overwhelm the intentions and > explanations of the book's interviewees, and it is sometimes unclear > as to whether the author is presenting their own critique of visual > production, reproducing the critiques of favela activists, or > embracing the work of Brazilian scholars who focus on visual > production in the favelas. One example of this is the discussion of > the Museum of Art in Rio, where the author provides promotional > material and discusses the museum's hours of operation. This > information is useful when framed as a regimentation of museum space, > but it does little to advance the author's central arguments > regarding commodification or demonstrate a form of critical > empiricism regarding knowledge production in the favela. > > _Postcards from Rio_ will be useful for anyone interested in the rise > of NGOs during a period of optimism regarding the future of Brazil > and its favelas. With the 2018 election of archconservative and > authoritarian populist Jair Bolsonaro to Brazil's presidency, the > inclusionary political period of Bezerra's research appears to have > passed. Bezerra's work is somewhat ambiguous as to how outside > academics and NGOs can continue to support favela residents as > knowledge producers once political conditions cease to include a > multiplicity of voices. This ambiguity is indicative of much of the > humanistic and social scientific research published about Brazil's > urban periphery during this period, and Bezerra's work provides an > opportunity to reflect upon possible means and methods of including > marginalized voices. The opportunity to delve into the work of > community-based visual producers remains a valuable and productive > means to challenge some of the more exclusionary elements of life on > Rio's periphery. > > Citation: Jason Scott. Review of Bezerra, Kátia da Costa, > _Postcards from Rio: Favelas and the Contested Geographies of > Citizenship_. H-Socialisms, H-Net Reviews. February, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54283 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
