Favela

soccer however the country is home to one of the poorest places in the world. Favelas, as locals call them, are huge slum areas located in Brazil. Home to 11 million people around the country, there are over 1600 Favelas just in Sao Paulo and these Favelas are only expanding. What are some size and characteristics of Brazilian Slums?: Favelas populate a minimal amount of space for the amount of people living in slums. Favelas in Brazil contain many 3 story buildings because people sell their…

In VITA: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment, João Biehl investigates life within Vita, an alternative community Porto Alegre, a region of southern Brazil where unwanted people find residence. Vita’s residents have typically been abandoned by their families due to poverty, mental illness, addiction, or physical disabilities. While Vita’s makeshift community seems to provide a solution for people who have nowhere else to turn, it lacks the necessary government funding and medical personnel to be…

One of the documentaries we watched in class called Violence Next Door; Growing up in the Favelas followed teenagers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Baltimore City, Maryland. The documentary was made to show the lives of teens that live in what people call slums, ghettos, favelas, or the hood. The documentary interviewed several teens about their living conditions and how it affects them. Although Baltimore City and Rio de Janeiro are on two different continents, the lives of these teens are very…

Favela: in Brazil, an urban slum or ghetto; illegal squatter settlement. This is how the film Favela Rising begins. It begins by describing what a favela is, which I am glad it does because this is a term that I have never heard of before. This film discusses what life is like in Brazil and goes through different slums in Brazil. It was made to inform and show people what the slums were like in Brazil and to give the audience a glimpse of what life is like for them. The target audience is…

entitled The Spectacular Favela: Violence in Modern Brazil documents Larkins time spent doing fieldwork for her dissertation in Brazil’s largest favela Rocinha from 2008-2010. The book discusses themes of drug trafficker control within Rocinha and other favelas, the concept of spectacular violence, as well as the commodification of the trafficker image by Brazilian and foreign outsiders. Larkins dissects the role that violent spectacle plays in the everyday lives of favela residents and the ways…

by Gordon Parks On the outskirts of Brazil in the 1960’s, near Rio,was a place called Catacumba. In this city was a young boy named Flavio. He lived on the mountainside where it was hot and had death written all over it; they called these places favelas. The poor child looked like he was on the verge of death, but continued to provide and help his family as much as he possibly could. After reading “Flavio’s Home” people can understand the hardships people in different countries face. Flavio had…

City of God is a thrilling action film set in the oppressive margins of a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Directed by Fernando Meirelles, the film portrays life in the City of God, a favela that began in the 1960s as a new housing project. Its main characters were children and petty thieves who lived a life surrounded by violence and drug turfs. Narrated by Rocket, a boy who dreams of becoming a photographer, the story focuses on the escalating battle between rival gangs led by the murderous…

The filmmaker reveals an overwhelming impression of the realities occurring in favelas in Brazil. The view of the city and urban life portrayed is authentic because it was filmed in the favelas and not a movie studio. The development of the City of God through a historical and personal narrative enhanced the approach of the film. The city plays a character, where we see it transform from…

the impoverished day laborers and seemingly destitute children, there is a growing club of IT engineers, artists and bohemians, whose presence has led some to describe this place as the “Shored itch of favelas”. De Cristo points out that a four-bedroom house (which, like most of the houses in favelas looks as though it has been cobbled together in a couple of days) is now 17 times more expensive than when the former owner sold it three years ago. And even for Beltrame’s well-laid plans, that is…

One of the most interesting aspects of the involvement of youth gangs in drug trafficking relates to the role of culture in reshaping narco-trafficking as a socially tolerable activity. In Mexico, for example, as noted by Bailey, the drug-trafficking organizations recruit young men and women in part through their influence on music, popular entertainment, and other aspects of culture that appeals to youth. Youth are particularly vulnerable to the influence of popular entertainment and music,…