Erika Robb Larkins, “The Spectacular Favela: Violence in Modern Brazil” (U of California Press, 2015)

New Books in Sociology · Oct 9, 2015 · 46m

After the emancipation of slavery in the late nineteenth century, Afro-Brazilians moved to cities like Rio de Janeiro in search of employment. Because of the lack of opportunity and a shortage of resources, Brazilians set up their own housing arrangements on the hillsides above the city. These neighborhoods are known today as favelas. Since their inception, governments and modernists have considered favelas to be an obstacle to the realization of Brazil as a modern state. The early republic, the military dictatorship of the Cold War era, and the post-dictatorship return to democracy have all…