All is Normal

Sports Mega Events, Favela Territory, and the Afterlives of Public Security Interventions in Rio de Janeiro

Bibliographic Data

ID2263222
AuthorsM Oosterbaan (0000-0002-0895-1842, Utrecht University)
Year2021
Volume33
Issue2
Pages382-402
Publication date2021-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCity & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0893-0465 • E-ISSN: 1548-744X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ciso.12405
PMID34690427
OpenAlexW3195567331
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited34

This article discusses the changes in Visionário, a favela located near the affluent neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro, to assess the effects of the Sports Mega Events (SMEs) on the political and economic conditions in the favela. Following Harvey's (2005) description of "accumulation by dispossession," several authors have highlighted that the UPP policing program, implemented before the SMEs, was part of neoliberal efforts to colonize favela territory with the prospect of future gain. Visionário has witnessed two consecutive policing programs (GPAE and UPP) in the past twenty years. Both were aimed at disarming the drugs-gang members who attempt to rule the favela by force. The ethnography in this article shows that both policing programs started ambitiously, yet gradually police officers withdrew and gang members reoccupied strategic positions in the favela. As a result, residents learnt to deal with ongoing territorial shifts in a highly dense urban space and with the liminal presence of police officers. In my analysis, I argue that in terms of neoliberal strategies to accumulate favela territory by dispossession, this case suggests a failure, and I analyze the struggle over favela territory as the outcome of contradictory forces connected to global neoliberalization

Crime Patterns and Interventions · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Policing Practices and Perceptions

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