Shifting categorizations: favela collectives in action during the pandemic (article)

This article describes and analyzes the multiple actions taken by Rio de Janeiro’s favela residents, through their organizations and collectives, in order to face the effects of the new coronavirus in their territories. We propose to think of this process of articulation and mobilization in the pandemic context as producing shifts of meanings historically attributed to the inhabitants of these locations. Thus, we seek to understand how actions focused on food donation, community communication, local production of information panels and other initiatives make up a multifaceted set of experiences that, in some way, claim and express the varied capabilities of life that exist in these territories.

Author: Alexandre Magalhães, Palloma Menezes e Sonia Fleury.

Originally published in: Revista Brasileira de Sociologia

Abstract

This article describes and analyzes the multiple actions taken by Rio de Janeiro’s favela residents, through their organizations and collectives, in order to face the effects of the new coronavirus in their territories. We propose to think of this process of articulation and mobilization in the pandemic context as producing shifts of meanings historically attributed to the inhabitants of these locations. Thus, we seek to understand how actions focused on food donation, community communication, local production of information panels and other initiatives make up a multifaceted set of experiences that, in some way, claim and express the varied capabilities of life that exist in these territories.