Walking through Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Little Africa’: places and contested borders

Abstract

At the turn of the twenty-first century, the urban renewal project in Rio de Janeiro’s port region emphasized the macroscopic scale of road building and projects designed for the future. In parallel, the production of localities and cultural heritage have often sought to adapt to the impacts of urban transformation. Guided tours fostering the idea of ‘African heritage’ construct places of historical and contemporary significance, reinterpreting their wider connections with people and places and their disputed borders. In this context, ‘Little Africa’ involves the production of a ‘place’ designed locally by cultural associations that promote walking tours in an attempt to fix routes that either adapt to or subvert times and spaces.