Development, Security and Displacement: An Ethnographic Case Study of Rocinha and other Key Favelas in Rio de Janeiro
type: CreativeWork
description: This study highlights the complex and generally overlooked relationship between development, urban space, and security, and does so through a multiyear ethnographic study of Rocinha, Brazil’s largest favela (slum/squatter community). Since 2007 unprecedented resources have been devoted towards improving Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (slums), mainly in the form of large-scale favela upgrading and security programs. Coinciding with the historic improvement schemes in Rio, and in large part responsible for them, Brazil’s economy experienced one of its most sustain period of growth during the first decade of the twentieth century. For the first time, strong economic growth and a historic decrease in income inequality occurred simultaneously. This was a period in which the Workers Party, the PT, rose to the top of political power, a feat not achieved by a leftist party since the military overthrow of João Goulart’s democratically elected government in 1964. Under Lula and then Dilma, the PT era has seen some of the largest development and social assistance programs and policies implemented in Brazil’s history, such as the Program for Accelerated Growth (PAC), My House, My Life (MCMV), and the internationally known Bolsa Família, or Family Grant. Meanwhile, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro’s pursuit to rebrand themselves as modern and developed through a series of mega sporting event capital of the world also official begins in 2007. Having passed the pilot test with the 2007 Pan-American Games, that same year Brazil won the bid for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Between late 2008 and early 2009 Rio de Janeiro state began the largest public security program ever, installing Police Pacification Units (UPPs) in strategic favelas. Also in 2009, Rio won the bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. After over two decades of military dictatorship (1964-1985), a rocky transition back to democracy that was marked by another two decades of harsh neoliberalism and some of the world’s highest levels of in…
abstract: This study highlights the complex and generally overlooked relationship between development, urban space, and security, and does so through a multiyear ethnographic study of Rocinha, Brazil’s largest favela (slum/squatter community). Since 2007 unprecedented resources have been devoted towards improving Rio de Janeiro’s favelas (slums), mainly in the form of large-scale favela upgrading and security programs. Coinciding with the historic improvement schemes in Rio, and in large part responsible for them, Brazil’s economy experienced one of its most sustain period of growth during the first decade of the twentieth century. For the first time, strong economic growth and a historic decrease in income inequality occurred simultaneously. This was a period in which the Workers Party, the PT, rose to the top of political power, a feat not achieved by a leftist party since the military overthrow of João Goulart’s democratically elected government in 1964. Under Lula and then Dilma, the PT era has seen some of the largest development and social assistance programs and policies implemented in Brazil’s history, such as the Program for Accelerated Growth (PAC), My House, My Life (MCMV), and the internationally known Bolsa Família, or Family Grant. Meanwhile, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro’s pursuit to rebrand themselves as modern and developed through a series of mega sporting event capital of the world also official begins in 2007. Having passed the pilot test with the 2007 Pan-American Games, that same year Brazil won the bid for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Between late 2008 and early 2009 Rio de Janeiro state began the largest public security program ever, installing Police Pacification Units (UPPs) in strategic favelas. Also in 2009, Rio won the bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games. After over two decades of military dictatorship (1964-1985), a rocky transition back to democracy that was marked by another two decades of harsh neoliberalism and some of the world’s highest levels of in…
author: Burgos, Marcos D
keywords: Criminology, Inequality and Stratification, Sociology, Urban Studies and Planning, Rio de Janeiro, Favelas, Forced Removal, Resistance, Slum Upgrading, Public Security
date published: 2016-02-01T08:00:00Z
date modified: 2026-07-24T01:58:39Z
provider: City University of New York - Graduate Center
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York