Respect, Dignity and Rights. Ethnographic registers about community policing in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Why did a community-policing unit enjoy initial positive reception among the residents of two favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro? Based on an ethnographic study conducted from 2000-2007 I suggest that to respond to this question it is necessary to observe the meaning that the residents attribute to the presence and action of this police squad, and above all to the importance that certain local categories involving conceptions of rights and justice assume when they speak about the police. In this light, it is important to pay attention to the notion of dignity constructed and shared locally and the category respect, which they used repeatedly.

Discursive exclusion and disrespect in prisons in Brazil

“…These practices provoke feelings of humiliation, injustice and indignation among the individuals and social groups who are the preferential victims of these arbitrary acts -most of whom are from black and or poor communities. These feelings are often articulated through their own local grammars (Cardoso 2014a(Cardoso , 2014bLemos 2017a;Lemos & Cardoso 2020).…”

“…One of the aspects that caught our attention during the study is that the social protests formulated by these actors rarely are expressed through positive terms, but by means of reports of experiences of injustice that reveal particular expectations of justice and moralities, similar to that which Honneth (2007: 350) would call "intuitive" [or native] notions of justice. Therefore, it is essential to pay attention to the symbolic meanings of the perceptions of social actors in contexts of social vulnerability marked mainly by poverty and difficult access to rights, as highlighted by Cardoso (2014aCardoso ( , 2014b and Cardoso de Oliveira (2011a).…”

Quem são os direitos humanos? Desconsideração e personificação em cadeias do Distrito Federal

“…Diferentes autores (CARDOSO, 2013(CARDOSO, , 2014HONNETH, 2003; OLIVEIRA, 2011) destacaram a importância de se manter atento aos sentidos simbólicos das percepções de atores sociais em contextos de vulnerabilidade social, marcados principalmente pela pobreza e dificuldade de acesso a direitos. Isso porque, frequentemente, os protestos sociais formulados por esses grupos não são positivados em demandas traduzíveis para a linguagem jurídica formal, mas expressas por meio de relatos de experiências em que suas "noções intuitivas [ou nativas] de justiça" são violadas (HONNETH, 2003, p. 71).…”

En busca de salidas del laberinto neoliberal: movimientos sociales y estados reconfigurados en Brasil y México

“…Aunque las clases populares nunca fueron la base principal de Bolsonaro, se ha establecido etnográficamente que algunos residentes de comunidades pobres también creen que "el bandido bueno es el bandido muerto", niegan que los criminales merezcan que se respeten sus "derechos humanos", apoyan "limpiezas" llevadas a cabo por escuadrones de exterminio, y están a favor de políticas de seguridad pública estilo "mano dura". En general, abandonan estas posturas cuando sienten que sus propios derechos como "trabajadores honestos" han sido violados por una policía que no les respeta como ciudadanos (Cardoso, 2014).…”