From 'cortiço' to 'favela': Spatial Inequality in Brazilian Narrative
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Arts Languages and Cultures
Abstract
My project is a book-length study of how urban space has been represented in Brazilian narrative from late 19th-century onwards. A close-examination of most literary periods since the 19th century will reveal works that criticise and analyse Brazil's striking social inequalities and yet have been consistently ignored by Marxist and social literary critics. My book will demonstrate that by using Henri Lefebvre's notion of 'space production' ('The Production of Space', 2000) we can better understand the degree to which such works engage in deep social analysis. The titles to be studied are: Aluísio Azevedo's 'O Cortiço' (1980); Lima Barreto's 'Vida e Morte de M.J. Gonzaga de Sá' (1919); Antônio de Alcântara Machado's 'Brás, Bexiga e Barra Funda' (1927), and 'Laranja da China' (1928); Patrícia Galvão's 'Parque Industrial' (1933); Carolina Maria de Jesus's 'Quarto de Despejo' (1960); Clarice Lispector's 'A Paixão Segundo G.H.' (1964), and 'A Hora da Estrela' (1977); and Ademiro Alves's 'Graduado em Marginalidade' (2005) and '85 Letras e um Disparo' (2007). The aim is to examine how social inequality is inscribed in literary urban space from different time periods, two cities (Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo), and by writers from different social backgrounds. Following Lefebvre, Brazilian urban space will be defined in the project as a 'social product', i.e.,as the product of the hegemony of an elite which for three centuries depended economically on slavery, and which continues to rely even today on its legacy of extremely cheap labour and servitude.
Although Lefebvre's notion of 'social space' serves as its main theoretical basis, 'From cortiço to favela' will not be the application of a theoretical model to different literary works. As a non-orthodox Marxist analysis of space, Lefebvre's notions will relate intricately to other theoretical statements: the economic and social principles of Marx's 'Capital', Walter Benjamin's definitions of the 'flâneur' and of ruins as allegory, Michel de Certeau's 'The Practice of Everyday Life', and Franco Moretti's maps in the 'Atlas of the European Novel'. Methodologically, the work will combine close-readings of the works listed above with analyses of the social, historical, and cultural context in which they were written. The close-readings will rigorously concentrate on issues related to space, and will highlight literary techniques that are used to depict spatial inequality.
Although Lefebvre's notion of 'social space' serves as its main theoretical basis, 'From cortiço to favela' will not be the application of a theoretical model to different literary works. As a non-orthodox Marxist analysis of space, Lefebvre's notions will relate intricately to other theoretical statements: the economic and social principles of Marx's 'Capital', Walter Benjamin's definitions of the 'flâneur' and of ruins as allegory, Michel de Certeau's 'The Practice of Everyday Life', and Franco Moretti's maps in the 'Atlas of the European Novel'. Methodologically, the work will combine close-readings of the works listed above with analyses of the social, historical, and cultural context in which they were written. The close-readings will rigorously concentrate on issues related to space, and will highlight literary techniques that are used to depict spatial inequality.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Lucia Sa (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Sá L
(2011)
Flânerie and Invasion in the Monstrous City: São Paulo in recent cinema
in Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies
Sá, L.
(2010)
'Zola in Rio de Janeiro: The Production of Space in Aluísio Azevedo's O Cortiço'
in Portuguese Studies
Sá, L.
(2013)
Latin American Popular Culture: Politics, Media, Affect
| Description | In the meetings with indigenous leaders, intellectuals, and artists, we found out that: a) indigenous leaders, artists, and intellectuals were prepared to discuss racism against their communities and individuals as racism (in contradistinction to most academic literature on the topic of indigeneity, particularly from Anthropology, where racism against indigenous populations is rarely discussed as such). b) racism against indigenous peoples and individuals takes particular forms, described in two of the project's outputs (the film 'My soul has no colour', directed by two indigenous participants in the project (with funds from the project), and including interviews with several participants, and b) the article 'Painting Racism', by Sá and Milanez Pereira, which also include interviews with the participants. They are: physical and verbal violence; exoticisation; assuming that in order to be indigenous, indigenous peoples and individuals have to live in ways perceived as 'traditional', and cannot adopt modern ways of life; disrespect for indigenous knowledge and indigenous religions c) Indigenous students and scholars who took part in the meetings wrote a series of guidelines for academic research involving indigenous communities. These guidelines have been published in the project's website and have been distributed to various indigenous students associations. |
| Exploitation Route | - The guidelines written by indigenous participants in the project have been distributed to and discussed by association of indigenous students in Brazilian universities, who have been adopting them and recommending them. - These same guidelines informed our participation in the AHRC/ESRC workshop on Indigenous Methods Workshop (2019), and were adopted as part of the general document on 'Indigenous Methods' proposed by the workshop participants. - The film 'Our soul has no colour' (Nossa Alma não tem Cor) has been seen by indigenous communities and shown in local festivals and events. The general discussions and findings on 'racism' is being discussed in communities and by indigenous artists and activists . |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://projects.alc.manchester.ac.uk/racism-indigenous-brazil/events/ |
| Description | - The guidelines on research with indigenous communities proposed in two meetings that were part of the Project's Workshops, mostly by indigenous students and community leaders, are being distributed and discussed amongst indigenous student associations and indigenous communities. They propose that anyone doing research with indigenous groups should consult the communities beforehand about what outputs are desirable to the communities in question. They also propose that elders and leaders in the community should be involved in the research questions, and in the assessment of the research. As these guidelines get distributed amongst student associations and communities, they are starting to have an impact in these communities, and in the relationship they have with researchers. - Several of the participants in the meetings (community leaders particularly) described how the discussions would be fed back to the communities. We have seen an increase in discussions about racism amongst indigenous activists, politicians, and artists since the event took place. Although it is difficult to prove that such increase is due to the Project's workshops, the fact is that many indigenous leaders and artists that were in the workshop have been discussing racism against indigenous peoples more openly and more frequently may indeed be connected to the meetings that were part of the project. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |