CONTENTIOUS POLITICS OF SLUMS: Understanding Different Outcomes of Community Resistance against Evictions in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

Between 2010 and 2016, over 65,000 slum dwellers were forcibly evicted in Rio de Janeiro. This article compares three cases of anti-eviction resistance over this period. While the three case study communities were all relatively successful in contesting evictions, the outcomes (material, social, political-symbolic) of their mobilizations were different. To understand how and why, we examine and compare the structures and processes of mobilization in these three communities and show how they found different openings and limitations in the changing political opportunity structure. We distinguish three distinct 'moments' or opportunity structures in Rio de Janeiro's urban governance between 2010 and 2016. We term these the City of Exception, the City in Revolt and the City in Crisis. The analytical and theoretical framework of contentious politics helps us draw together and expand on two dominant narratives in scholars' approach to slum evictions: on the one hand a top-down perspective of the 'city against slum dwellers'; on the other a bottom-up perspective of 'slum dwellers against the city'. In this article we test the usefulness of our expanded framework--contentious politics of slums--for understanding the organization and outcomes of community resistance against evictions, and discuss its relevance for research on the politics of slums in the global South.

BODIES AGAINST MODERNITY: Politics of Slum Rehabilitations in India

“…While the literature on slum politics has tended to focus on moral polemics between ‘the city versus slum‐dwellers’ (Datta, 2012; Sørbøe and Braathen, 2022), attending to bodily politics shows numerous modalities through which slum rehabilitations are reshaped by bodies—either through wilful acts of individuals or through non‐volitional political effects engendered through bodily encounters. The consequence of focusing on real bodies is far‐reaching, since it helps us recognize the re‐emergence of the sentiments of the modern (liberal) body politic and acknowledge that this modern body politic (hierarchical, consensual or liberal) is being remade in relational and affective terms.…”

“…Such practices are conceptualized as subaltern urbanism (Roy, 2011) or occupancy urbanism (Benjamin, 2008). Overall, as Sørbøe and Braathen (2022: 1) suggest, the literature on slum politics has produced a framing of ‘the city [or the state] against slum‐dwellers’ and ‘slum‐dwellers against the city [or the state]’.…”

HOUSING BEYOND THE METROPOLIS: Inhabiting Extractivism and Extensions in Urban Amazonia

“…Research on housing precarity and segregation, for instance, has largely been conducted from a metropolitan perspective-from seminal studies of 'urban spoliation' (Kowarick, 1979) and state housing projects in metropolitan peripheries (Maricato, 1987) to contemporary patterns of spatial segregation (Marques, 2015), housing precarity (Marques, 2017;, fortified enclaves (Caldeira, 2001) and urban occupations (Amin, 2014;Nascimento, 2016). While the analytical focus on peripheral subdivisions has dwindled over past decades, studies on metropolitan favelas still predominate in Brazilian housing studies (Ribeiro, 1993) in relation to myriad questions such as revitalization projects (Friendly and Pimentel Walker, 2022), insurgent planning (Friendly, 2022), claims on the right to the city (Pilo', 2017) and, more recently, mega-events (Richmond and Garmany, 2016) and evictions (Sørbøe and Braathen, 2022). 2 The same can be said of studies on the financialization of housing and urban space, which investigate financial circuits and operations taking place in Brazilian cities and are attentive to how the housing question is defined through alignments between the state, finance capital and construction companies (Shimbo, 2019), 3 particularly in relation to the mass housing program Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House My Life) (Pereira, 2017;Rolnik, 2019).…”

Ciclos de remoções em Belém (PA): a Bacia do Tucunduba e a reprodução da precariedade

“…Nesse sentido, as remoções são práticas que vêm sendo atualizadas ao longo do tempo e justificadas a partir de novos discursos, mas em geral mantendo como consequência o agravamento da condição de pobreza e vulnerabilidade da população deslocada. Em um panorama global, as remoções frequentemente resultam de grandes projetos urbanísticos associados à exploração econômica, à criação de espaços favoráveis para investimentos e à viabilização de megaeventos (ROLNIK, 2016;SASSEN, 2016;DAVIS, 2011;SØRBØE;BRAATHEN, 2022). Em alguns casos, também se utiliza a condição de fragilidade ambiental para justificar a erradicação de favelas, embora as políticas de remoção não atinjam a população mais rica que também habita espaços ambientalmente sensíveis (DOSHI, 2019).…”