Mobilising the Periphery: Brazil's My House My Life Programme and the Homeless Workers' Movement

Albert, Victor

doi:10.1111/blar.13103

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Political scientists have often regarded them as key collective actors mediating access to and distribution of state benefits through local decision-making (Lavalle and Bueno 2011). Ethnographers have highlighted how social movements pursue their goals by mastering the language of "rights" (Holston 2008), developing diverse repertoires of action (Álvarez et al 2017), and engaging in challenging projects of political education with their members (Albert 2020;Aquino 2008). Gianpaolo Baiocchi (2005), for example, considers the politics, culture, and day-to-day activities of citizens in participatory democracy in Porto Alegre, arguing that civic engagement relates to and is fostered by municipal mechanisms of participation.…”

Section: Social Movements Housing and The State In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Housing Movements and the Politics of Worthiness in São Paulo

Kopper

Richmond

2021

J Latin Amer Carib Anth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Based on research with current and former housing activists in São Paulo, this article identifies the concept of "politics of worthiness" as central to the moral justification and technical legitimation of social movements. Attributions of worthiness have long upheld the relationship between institutionalized grassroots organizations and the state but are equally present in everyday life and social distinctions among Brazil's popular classes. By examining contrasting constructions of worthiness among both present-day housing movements and residents of areas that are the product of past mobilizations, the article contends that collective experiences of mobilization in dialogue with myriad external influences produce diverse and often ambivalent political subjectivities. The politics of worthiness sheds light on how these actors organize themselves, experience participation, and square universalist demands with the contingent solidarities and changing social, institutional, and political realities that they inhabit. [Brazil, worthiness, subjectivity, housing, social movements, technomoral politics] R e s u m o Baseado em pesquisa com ativistas (atuais e pregressos) pela habitação na periferia de São Paulo, este artigo identifica o conceito de "política do merecimento" como central à justificação moral e legitimação técnica de movimentos sociais. Por muito tempo, atribuições de merecimento sustentaram a relação entre o estado e as organizações institucionalizadas de base, embora também estivessem inscritas na vida cotidiana e nas distinções sociais entre as classes populares brasileiras. Ao examinar construções

show abstract

Section: Social Movements Housing and The State In Latin Americamentioning

confidence: 99%

Housing Movements and the Politics of Worthiness in São Paulo

Kopper

Richmond

2021

J Latin Amer Carib Anth

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The number of occupations that the MTST organized grew significantly during the crisis, particularly in São Paulo (Irazábal, 2018); while the movement organized a little more than 200 occupations between 2011 and 2012, between 2013 and 2014 this number jumped to 680 (Braga, 2016: 86). In part, this growth was enabled by a Lula-era government housing program, ‘My House My Life – Entities’ ( Minha Casa Minha Vida – Entities ), which allows civic associations, unions, and other social organizations to construct housing which is financed by the state and to allocate the produced units to members (Rizek et al, 2014; Albert, 2021). The number of occupations it organized and its leadership in organizing protests against the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff gave the movement an enhanced status on the political left – a status which was bolstered by the growing public profile of Guilherme Boulos, the young spokesperson of the movement, who cultivated a strong social media presence (Singer, 2015).…”

Section: The Homeless Workers’ Movementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Occupying Paulista: Housing activism, the new right and the politics of public space during the Brazilian crisis

Albert

2021

Thesis Eleven

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Brazilian society has frequently been described as polarized during the country’s recent political and economic crisis. In 2018, a wave of opposition to the centre-left Workers’ Party culminated in the election of Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who portrays the political left as a malevolent force in Brazilian society. In this paper I explore this polarization through drawing on ethnographic research with the Homeless Workers’ Movement ( Movimento de Trablhadores Sem-Teto, MTST), a large urban social movement that develops settlements on underutilized land in the city, and a prominent civil society opponent of Bolsonaro. More specifically, I examine a key site of socio-spatial tension in São Paulo, Paulista Avenue, as a new political right came to predominate on the city’s main thoroughfare during the campaign to impeach the Workers’ Party President, Dilma Rousseff. I show how the perceived intolerance of the mobilized right helped to establish new normative codes that regulated the political symbolism which could be displayed in public spaces. Lastly, I consider how the vilification of the MTST in particular and the political left in general by the new right is embedded in broader structures of stigmatization.

show abstract

“…This programme provided mortgages enabling the low‐income populations to buy formally produced housing. The programme aimed to reduce the country's housing deficit but also served as part of the government's countercyclical policy because it generated jobs in civil construction and, consequently, higher incomes and greater access to financial products (Arantes and Fix, 2009; Fix, 2011; Santo Amore, 2015; Albert, 2021; Stefani, 2021).…”

Section: The Expansion Of the Formal Credit Supply In Brazilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Buy Today, Pay Tomorrow: Formal Credit Supply and Domestic Electrical and Electronic Goods Consumption in São Paulo's Urban Periphery

Santos

Ferreira

2021

Bull Latin American Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, expansion of the formal credit supply in Brazil has promoted the 'financial inclusion' of the low-income population, especially through instalment plans offered by large retail chains. This article aims to analyse the impacts of formal credit availability on the consumption of electrical and electronic goods by residents of Jardim Helena, a neighbourhood in São Paulo's periphery. Through the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, this study reveals how the instalment plan can stimulate consumption among the low-income population, with a significant impact on household budgets, raising the risk of indebtedness.

show abstract

Mobilising the Periphery: Brazil's My House My Life Programme and the Homeless Workers' Movement

Cited by 8 publications

References 31 publications

Housing Movements and the Politics of Worthiness in São Paulo

Housing Movements and the Politics of Worthiness in São Paulo

Occupying Paulista: Housing activism, the new right and the politics of public space during the Brazilian crisis

Buy Today, Pay Tomorrow: Formal Credit Supply and Domestic Electrical and Electronic Goods Consumption in São Paulo's Urban Periphery

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About