Countering Persistent Alterity

Fostering Advocacy and Agency

Datos Bibliográficos

ID6436010
AutoresMax Stephenson (0000-0003-1711-8438, Virginia Tech), Neda Moayerian (0000-0002-7478-0535, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies), Desiree Poets (0000-0001-7875-824X, Virginia Tech), Vanessa Guerra (0000-0001-6545-2348, University of Virginia), Henrique Gomes (0000-0002-9285-0090, Redes Da Mare Coordinator (Territorial Development Axis), R. Srg. Silva Nunes , 1012—Nova Holanda, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21044-242)
Año2025
Volumen17
Número3
Fecha de publicación2025-07-02
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Human Rights Practice (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1757-9619 • E-ISSN: 1757-9627
EditorialOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/jhuman/huaf024
OpenAlexW4414436662
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas28

This article explores Redes da Maré, a hybrid non-governmental organization (NGO) established in 2007 to support residents of Complexo da Maré, a neighbourhood of 16 favelas (informal settlements) in northeastern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil housing 140,000 people. Amidst systemic discrimination and limited access to public services, citizens have continually contested that reality and Redes seeks to advocate for their human rights and to improve their living conditions. While Redes combines service provision and advocacy, we argue that its hybridity is not merely functional or sectoral, but expressive of the constrained agency of a frequently stigmatized and dispossessed population. Redes operates at the intersection of formal NGO structures and grassroots legitimacy, negotiating simultaneously with the state, violent non-state actors, and hostile public perceptions. The organization deliberately uses discourses and tactics deemed ‘legitimate’ both to survive and to counter the dominant narrative that casts favela residents as internal enemies. In practice, hybridity means constantly shifting strategies: providing urgent services and cultural programs to meet local needs, while also challenging police violence through rights-claims and data-driven campaigns. We conclude that while Redes, like many of its counterparts, seeks to foster deliberative capacity, knowledge generation, and advocacy among the citizens it serves, it demonstrates a specific form of grounded hybridity that emerges not from neoliberal structuring alone, but from conscious navigation of multiple, overlapping regimes of structural violence, absence, and coercion in an especially fractious, fractionated and oppressive environment

Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering