Violence in the Rural Global South

Abstract

The aim of this article is to discuss the trends and nature of rural violence in Brazil. Assuming the hypothesis of an increase in violence rates, urban-rural violence rates are compared at three geographical levels: national (Brazil), state (São Paulo), and municipal (Rio Claro). The study combines the analyses of official statistics with newspaper reports, videos, and articles published by the national media. Findings indicate an increase in violence in rural areas in recent decades but such a rise is far from homogenous across the country; it shows links to patterns of population change, economic expansion, and organized crime. Although violence has long being an inherent characteristic of rural Brazil-a place of conflicts and struggles-it is argued here that the more recent rise in violence is distinct from the past, at least in its portrayal by the media. The article finalizes by suggesting a research agenda to improve the understanding of the dynamics of violence in the Brazilian context.

Challenges in Engaging Birdwatchers in Bird Monitoring in a Forest Patch: Lessons for Future Citizen Science Projects in Agricultural Landscapes

“…Barrier: Lack of security nearby the patch Although our field team did not have any security problems while conducting fieldwork in the study area, there were cases of robbery nearby, and this is a common problem in the rural Sao Paulo countryside (Ceccato and Ceccato 2017). Many birdwatchers use expensive optical equipment (i.e., binoculars, scopes, cameras) to help with their bird identification records U.S.…”

Exploring the multilevel nature of police confidence in Brazil

“…In some Brazilian cities, scholars would add that some of the most worrying criminal activity is the violence perpetrated by police officers and their close circle of co-conspirators upon regular citizens (French, 2013). Against this background, police violence has contributed to neighbourhood insecurity perceptions, where people are falsely arrested and abused by police officers, making Brazilians fear both crime and the police (Ceccato and Ceccato, 2017)…”

'He said he was going to kill me'

“…There are diverse contributing factors to this social phenomenon; some attribute it to a 'culture of violence', in which shared social values and practices are used to justify harm (Ceccato & Ceccato, 2017;da Silva, 2009;Debert & Gregori, 2016;Galtung, 1969). Nearly 40% of Brazilians describe feeling unsafe in their homes, and one in eight has been the victim of a crime in the past year (World Values Survey Network, 2014).…”

“…Nevertheless, Brazil continues to be categorized as a country with limited sanctions for the murder of women (WomanStats Project, 2017). Given Brazil's 'culture of violence' (Ceccato & Ceccato, 2017;Debert & Gregori, 2016) and the abundance of machismo culture (Baldwin & DeSouza, 2001;Barker & Loewenstein, 1997;Pulerwitz & Barker, 2008), more research is needed to understand the risk of femicide that Brazilian women and girls face (Alvazzi del Frate, 2011;Campbell, Glass, Sharps, Laughon, & Bloom, 2007). Since IPV, the main antecedent to femicide, is often mis-and underreported, we used a case study approach to analyse the extreme forms of violence experienced by two women currently residing in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil.…”