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Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of
working-class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
neighborhoods in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had lived under the favela trees in Bahia and had nowhere to live following the Canudos War. Some of the first settlements were called ''bairros africanos'' (African neighborhoods). Over the years, many former enslaved Africans moved in. Even before the first favela came into being, poor citizens were pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs. Most modern favelas appeared in the 1970s due to
rural exodus Rural flight (or rural exodus) is the migratory pattern of peoples from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective. In industrializing economies like Britain in the eighteenth century or East Asia in the ...
, when many people left rural areas of Brazil and moved to cities. Unable to find places to live, many people found themselves in favelas. Census data released in December 2011 by the
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics ( pt, Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental informatio ...
(IBGE) showed that in 2010, about 6 percent of the Brazilian population lived in favelas and other slums. Favelas are located in 323 of the 5,565 Brazilian
municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...
.


History

The term favela dates back to the late 1800s. At the time, soldiers were brought from the War of Canudos, in the northeastern state of
Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...
, to
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
and left with no place to live. When they served in Bahia, those soldiers had been familiar with Canudos' ''Morro da Favela'' ("Favela Hill") – a name referring to ''favela'', a skin-irritating tree in the spurge family ('' Cnidoscolus quercifolius'') indigenous to Bahia. When they settled on the Providência rovidencehill in Rio de Janeiro, they nicknamed the place ''Favela hill''. The favelas were formed prior to the dense occupation of cities and the domination of real estate interests.Ney dos Santos Oliveira, ''Favelas and Ghettos:race and Class in Rio de Janeiro City''. Following the end of slavery and increased urbanization into Brazilian cities, a lot of people from the Brazilian countryside moved to Rio. These new migrants sought work in the city but with little to no money, they could not afford urban housing. During the 1920s, the favelas grew to such an extent that they were perceived as a problem for the whole society. At the same time the term favela underwent a first institutionalization by becoming a local category for the settlements of the urban poor on hills. However, it was not until 1937 that the favela actually became central to public attention, when the Building Code (Código de Obras) first recognized their very existence in an official document and thus marked the beginning of explicit favela policies. The housing crisis of the 1940s forced the urban poor to erect hundreds of shantytowns in the suburbs, when favelas replaced tenements as the main type of residence for destitute
Carioca Carioca ( or ) is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial, maybe from Tupi language "''kari' oka''", meaning "white house" as the whitewashed stone ...
s (residents of Rio). The explosive era of favela growth dates from the 1940s, when
Getúlio Vargas Getúlio Dornelles Vargas (; 19 April 1882 – 24 August 1954) was a Brazilian lawyer and politician who served as the 14th and 17th president of Brazil, from 1930 to 1945 and from 1951 to 1954. Due to his long and controversial tenure as Brazi ...
's industrialization drive pulled hundreds of thousands of migrants into the former Federal District, to the 1970s, when shantytowns expanded beyond urban Rio and into the metropolitan periphery. Urbanization in the 1950s provoked mass migration from the countryside to the cities throughout Brazil by those hoping to take advantage of the economic opportunities urban life provided. Those who moved to Rio de Janeiro chose an inopportune time. The change of Brazil's capital from Rio to
Brasília Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
in 1960 marked a slow but steady decline for the former, as industry and employment options began to dry up. Unable to find work, and therefore unable to afford housing within the city limits, these new migrants remained in the favelas. Despite their proximity to urban
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
, the city did not extend sanitation, electricity, or other services to the favelas. They soon became associated with extreme poverty and were considered a headache to many citizens and politicians within Rio. In the 1970s, Brazil's military dictatorship pioneered a favela eradication policy, which forced the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents. During
Carlos Lacerda Carlos Frederico Werneck de Lacerda (30 April 1914 – 21 May 1977) was a Brazilian journalist and politician. Biography Born in Rio de Janeiro, Lacerda was the son of a family of politicians from Vassouras, Rio de Janeiro state. He was the ...
's administration, many were moved to public housing projects such as Cidade de Deus ("City of God"), later popularized in a widely popular feature film of the same name. Poor public planning and insufficient investment by the government led to the disintegration of these projects into new favelas. By the 1980s, worries about
eviction Eviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosed by a mortgagee (often, the prior owners who defaulted on a mortgag ...
and eradication were beginning to give way to violence associated with the burgeoning drug trade. Changing routes of production and consumption meant that
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
found itself as a transit point for
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...
destined for Europe. Although drugs brought in money, they also accompanied the rise of the
small arms trade The small arms trade (also called small arms proliferation and the small arms market) is the markets of both authorized and illicit small arms and light weapons (SALW), as well as their parts, accessories, and ammunition. Definition The arms t ...
and of gangs competing for dominance. While there are Rio favelas which are still essentially ruled by organized crime groups like drug traffickers or by organized crime groups called ''milícias'' (
Brazilian police militias Brazilian police militias ( pt, Milícias), in Rio de Janeiro and other cities of Brazil, are criminal, illegal paramilitary groups made up of current and former police (Civil/Military) officers as well as Military Firefighters Corps officers, cr ...
), all of the favelas in Rio's South Zone and key favelas in the North Zone are now managed by Pacifying Police Units, known as UPPs. While drug dealing, sporadic gun fights, and residual control from drug lords remain in certain areas, Rio's political leaders point out that the UPP is a new paradigm after decades without a government presence in these areas. Most of the current favelas really expanded in the 1970s, as a construction boom in the more affluent districts of Rio de Janeiro initiated a
rural exodus Rural flight (or rural exodus) is the migratory pattern of peoples from rural areas into urban areas. It is urbanization seen from the rural perspective. In industrializing economies like Britain in the eighteenth century or East Asia in the ...
of workers from poorer states in Brazil. Since then, favelas have been created under different terms but with similar results. Communities form in favelas over time and often develop an array of social and religious organizations and forming associations to obtain such services as running water and electricity. Sometimes the residents manage to gain title to the land and then are able to improve their homes. Because of crowding, unsanitary conditions,
poor nutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is "a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients" which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
and pollution, disease is rampant in the poorer favelas and infant mortality rates are high. In addition, favelas situated on hillsides are often at risk from flooding and landslides.


Public policy towards favelas

In the late 19th century, the state gave regulatory impetus for the creation of Rio de Janeiro's first
squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
settlement. The soldiers from the War of Canudos (1896-7) were granted permission by Ministry of War to settle on the Providência hill, located between the seaside and centre of the city (Pino 1997). The arrival of former black slaves expanded this settlement and the hill became known as Morro de Providência (Pino 1997). The first wave of formal government intervention was in direct response to the overcrowding and outbreak of disease in Providência and the surrounding slums that had begun to appear through internal migration (Oliveira 1996). The simultaneous immigration of White Europeans to the city in this period generated strong demand for housing near the water and the government responded by "razing" the slums and relocating the slum dwellers to Rio's north and south zones (Oliveira 1996, pp. 74). This was the beginning of almost a century of state-sanctioned interventions marked by aggressive eradication policies. Favelas in the early twentieth century were considered breeding grounds for antisocial behavior and spread of disease. The issue of honor pertaining to legal issues was not even considered for residents of the favelas. After a series of comments and events in the neighborhood of Morro da Cyprianna, during which a local woman Elvira Rodrigues Marques was slandered, the Marques family took it to court. This is a significant change in what the public considered the norm for favela residents, who the upper classes considered devoid of honor all together. Following the initial forced relocation, favelas were left largely untouched by the government until the 1940s. During this period politicians, under the auspice of national industrialization and poverty alleviation, pushed for high density public housing as an alternative to the favelas (Skidmore 2010). The "Parque Proletário" program relocated favelados to nearby temporary housing while land was cleared for the construction of permanent housing units (Skidmore 2010). In spite of the political assertions of Rio's Mayor Henrique Dodsworth, the new public housing estates were never built and the once-temporary housing alternatives began to grow into new and larger favelas (Oliveira 1996). Skidmore (2010) argues that "Parque Proletário" was the basis for the intensified eradication policy of the 1960s and 1970s. The mass urban migration to Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s resulted in the proliferation of favelas across the urban terrain. In order to deal with the "favela problem" (Portes 1979, pp. 5), the state implemented a full-scale favela removal program in the 1960s and 1970s that resettled favelados to the periphery of the city (Oliveira 1996). According to Anthony (2013), some of the most brutal favela removals in Rio de Janeiro's history occurred during this period. The military regime of the time provided limited resources to support the transition and favelados struggled to adapt to their new environments that were effectively ostracized communities of poorly built housing, inadequate infrastructure and lacking in public transport connections (Portes 1979). Perlman (2006) points to the state's failure in appropriately managing the favelas as the main reason for the rampant violence, drugs and gang problems that ensued in the communities in the following years. The creation of BOPE (Special Police Operations Battalion) in 1978 was the government's response to this violence (Pino 1997). BOPE, in their all black military ensemble and weaponry, was Rio's attempt to confront violence with an equally opposing entity. In the 1980s and early 1990s, public policy shifted from eradication to preservation and upgrading of the favelas. The "Favela-Bairro" program, launched in 1993, sought to improve living standards for the favelados (Pamuk and Cavallieri 1998). The program provided basic sanitation services and social services, connected favelas to the formal urban community through a series of street connections and public spaces and legalized land tenure (Pamuk and Cavallieri 1998). Aggressive intervention, however, did not entirely disappear from the public agenda. Stray-bullet killings, drug gangs and general violence were escalating in the favelas and from 1995 to mid-1995, the state approved a joint army-police intervention called "Operação Rio" (Human Rights Watch 1996). "Operação Rio" was the state's attempt to regain control of the favelas from the drug factions that were consolidating the social and political vacuum left by previously unsuccessful state policies and interventions (Perlman 2006). Since 2009, Rio de Janeiro has had walls separating the rich neighborhoods from the favelas, officially to protect the natural environment, but critics charge that the barriers are for economic segregation.


Pacifying police units

Beginning in 2008, Pacifying Police Units ( pt, Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora, also translated as Police Pacification Unit), abbreviated UPP, began to be implemented within various favelas in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The UPP is a
law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
and social services program aimed at reclaiming territories controlled by drug traffickers. The program was spearheaded by State Public Security Secretary José Mariano Beltrame with the backing of Rio Governor Sérgio Cabral. Rio de Janeiro's state governor, Sérgio Cabral, traveled to
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
in 2007 in order to observe public security improvements enacted in the country under Colombian President Álvaro Uribe since 2000. Following his return, he secured US$1.7 billion for the express purpose of security improvement in Rio, particularly in the favelas. In 2008, the state government unveiled a new police force whose rough translation is Pacifying Police Unit (UPP). Recruits receive special training as well as a US$300 monthly bonus. By October 2012, UPPs have been established in 28 favelas, with the stated goal of Rio's government to install 40 UPPs by 2014. The establishment of a UPP within a favela is initially spearheaded by Rio de Janeiro's elite police battalion, BOPE, in order to arrest or drive out gang leaders. After generally securing an area of heavy weapons and large drug caches, and establishing a presence over several weeks to several months, the BOPE are then replaced by a new Pacifying Police Unit composed of hundreds of newly trained policemen, who work within a given favela as a permanent presence aimed at community policing. Suspicion toward the police force is widespread in the favelas, so working from within is a more effective and efficient means of enacting change. Rio's Security Chief, José Mariano Beltrame, has stated that the main purpose of the UPPs is more toward stopping armed men from ruling the streets than to put an end to drug trafficking. A 2010 report by the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) did note the drop in the homicide rate within Rio de Janeiro's favelas. The report also pointed to the importance of initiatives that combine public security with intra-favela initiatives. Journalists within Rio studying ballot results from the 2012 municipal elections observed that those living within favelas administered by UPPs distributed their votes among a wider spectrum of candidates compared to areas controlled by drug lords or other organized crime groups such as ''milícias''. More recent rounds of state policy break with the past, as community policing and participatory planning are now cornerstones of Brazilian public policy. Seeking to build on ‘Favela-Bairro’, the informally coined ‘Favela Chic’ program was aimed at bringing favelas into the formal social fabric of the city while simultaneously empowering favelados to act as key agents in their communities (Navarro-Sertich 2011). Media outlets have been critical of this change in policy and believe its only reflective of the government's concerns of the large media attention Rio attracted during the 2014 FIFA World Cup (McLoughlin 2011) and the 2016 Olympic Games (Griffin 2016). Anthony (2013) was equally as critical of the policy and said that while rhetoric asserted the government's best intention, the reality was more in line with aggressive policies of the past. He points to the announcement in 2010 from Rio's Mayor Eduardo Paes concerning the removal of two inner city favelas, Morro de Prazeres and Laboriaux, and the forced relocation of its residents. There have been significant shifts in favela policy in the last century. In 2013, there were an estimated 600 favelas in Rio de Janeiro, all of variable sizes (Anthony 2013). Due to the large scale and complexities of these informal settlements, academic interest into this field remains high.


Formation of favela society and culture

The people who live in favelas are known as ''favelados'' ("inhabitants of favela"). Favelas are associated with poverty. Brazil's favelas are thought to be the result of the unequal distribution of wealth in the country. Brazil is one of the most economically unequal countries in the world, with the top 10 percent of its population earning 50 percent of the national income and about 8.5 percent of all people living below the poverty line. As a result, residents of favelas are often discriminated against for living in these communities and often experience inequality and exploitation.Perlman, Janice E. Favela : Four Decades Of Living On The Edge In Rio De Janeiro. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009 This stigma that is associated with people living in favelas can lead to difficulty finding jobs. The Brazilian government has made several attempts in the 20th century to improve the nation's problem of urban poverty. One way was by the eradication of the favelas and favela dwellers that occurred during the 1970s while Brazil was under military governance. These favela eradication programs forcibly removed over 100,000 residents and placed them in public housing projects or back to the rural areas that many emigrated from. Another attempt to deal with urban poverty came by way of
gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...
. The government sought to upgrade the favelas and integrate them into the inner city with the newly urbanized upper-middle class. As these "upgraded favelas" became more stable, they began to attract members of the lower-middle class pushing the former favela dwellers onto the streets or outside of the urban center and into the suburbs further away from opportunity and economic advancement. For example: in Rio de Janeiro, the vast majority of the homeless population is black, and part of that can be attributed to favela gentrification and displacement of those in extreme poverty.


Drugs in the favelas

The
cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...
trade has affected Brazil and in turn its favelas, which tend to be ruled by drug lords. Regular shoot-outs between traffickers and police and other criminals, as well as assorted illegal activities, lead to murder rates in excess of 40 per 100,000 inhabitants in the city of Rio and much higher rates in some Rio favelas.The Myth of Personal Security: Criminal Gangs, Dispute Resolution, and Identity in Rio de Janeiro's Favelas. By: Arias, Enrique Desmond; Rodrigues, Corinne Davis. Latin American Politics & Society, Winter2006, Vol. 48 Issue 4, p 53–81, 29p. Traffickers ensure that individual residents can guarantee their own safety through their actions and political connections to them. They do this by maintaining order in the favela and giving and receiving reciprocity and respect, thus creating an environment in which critical segments of the local population feel safe despite continuing high levels of violence. Drug use is highly concentrated in these areas run by local gangs in each highly populated favela. Drug sales run rampant at night when many favelas host their own ''baile'', or dance party, where many different social classes can be found. These drug sales make up a business that in some of the occupied areas rakes in as much as US$150 million per month, according to official estimates released by the Rio media.


Growth and removal of the favelas

Despite attempts to remove favelas from Brazil's major cities like
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
and
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
, the poor population grew at a rapid pace as well as the modern favelas that house them in the end of last century. This is a phenomenon called "favelização" ("favela growth" or "favelisation"). In 1969, there were approximately 300 favelas in Rio de Janeiro; today there are twice as many. In 1950, only 7 percent of Rio de Janeiro's population lived in favelas; in the present day this number has grown to 19 percent or about one in five people living in a favela. According to national census data, from 1980 to 1990, the overall growth rate of Rio de Janeiro dropped by 8 percent, but the favela population increased by 41 percent. After 1990, the city's growth rate leveled off at 7 percent, but the favela population increased by 24 percent. A report released in 2010 by the United Nations, however, shows that Brazil has reduced its slum population by 16%, now corresponding to about 6% of the overall population of the nation.


Religion

A number of religious traditions exist in the favelas. Historically,
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
was the most prominent religion of the area, but over the past few decades there has been a shift toward
Evangelicalism Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
, including
Pentecostalism Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement
. While there has been an increase in the number of converts to Evangelicalism, there are also an increasing number of people who claim to be
non-religious Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...
.


Music

Popular types of music in favelas include
funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
, hip-hop, and
Samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...
.WILLIAMS, CLAIRE. "Ghettourism And Voyeurism, Or Challenging Stereotypes And Raising Consciousness? Literary And Non-Literary Forays Into The Favelas Of Rio De Janeiro." Bulletin Of Latin American Research 27.4 (2008): 483–500. Business Source Complete. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. Recently, funk carioca, a type of music popularized in the favelas has also become popular in other parts of the world.Moreno, Carolina. "Brazilian Funk Music: Rio De Janeiro's 'Music From The Favelas' Gains Acceptance (VIDEOS)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Dec. 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. This type of music often features samples from other songs. Popular funk artists include MC Naldo and Buchecha ''Bailes funk'' are forms of dance parties that play this type of funk music and were popularized in favelas. Popular hip hop artist MV Bill is from Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro. Favela Brass is a free music school set up in Pereirão in Rio, which aims to give children opportunities through musical performance.


Popularization of favela culture

Media representations of favelas also serve to spread knowledge of favelas, contributing to the growing interest in favelas as tourist locations. In recent years, favela culture has gained popularity as inspiration for art in other parts of the world. Fascination with favela life can be seen in many paintings, photography, and reproductions of favela dwellings. There have also been instances of European nightclubs inspired by favelas.


Tourism

Since the mid-1990s, a new form of tourism has emerged in globalizing cities of several so-called
developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
or emerging nations. Visits to the most disadvantaged parts of the city are essential features of this form of tourism. It is mainly composed of guided tours, marketed and operated by professional companies, through these disadvantaged areas. This new form of tourism has often been referred to as slum tourism which can also be seen in areas of South Africa and India.Manfred, R. Poverty tourism: theoretical reflections and empirical findings regarding an extraordinary form of tourism. September 2009. In Brazil, this new growing market of tourism has evolved in a few particular favelas mostly in
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
and
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
, with the largest and most visited favela being Rocinha. This new touristic phenomena has developed into a major segment of touristic exploration.Frisch, T. Glimpses of another world: The favela as a tourist attraction. February 2012. There are conflicting views on whether or not favela tourism is an ethical practice. These tours draw awareness to the needs of the underprivileged population living in these favelas, while giving tourists access to a side of Rio that often lurks in the shadows. The tours are viewed as a spectacular alternative to mainstream Rio de Janeiro attractions, such as Sugarloaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer. They offer a brief portrayal of Rio's hillside communities that are far more than the habitats often misrepresented by drug lords and criminals.Anonymous. Favela tourism guides new hope. Washington Report on the Hemisphere. April 2011. For instance there are tours of the large favela of Rocinha. Directed by trained guides, tourists are driven up the favela in vans, and then explore the community's hillside by foot. Guides walk their groups down main streets and point out local hot spots. Most tours stop by a community center or school, which are often funded in part by the tour's profits. Tourists are given the opportunity to interact with local members of the community, leaders, and area officials, adding to their impressions of favela life. Depending on the tour, some companies will allow pictures to be taken in predetermined areas, while others prohibit picture-taking completely. Notable features of said tours include: * Explanations regarding the mechanisms of socio-geographic differentiation and spatial disparities within a favela (especially rent and property market, unemployment) * Information regarding modern infrastructural equipment (such as wireless LAN, health services) and up-to-date shopping and services infrastructures (e.g. fashion stores, banks, cafés) * Meetings with voluntary workers on social or cultural projects and/or visits to such projects * Visit to or tours of schools, kindergartens or other institutions serving children and adolescents * Impressions of private residences, communication with their inhabitants * Visit to a restaurant or café The Brazilian federal government views favela tourism with high regard. The administration of
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...
initiated a program to further implement tourism into the structure of favela economies. The Rio Top Tour Project, inaugurated in August 2010, promotes tourism throughout the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Beginning in Santa Marta, a favela of approximately 5,000 Cariocas, federal aid was administered in order to invigorate the tourism industry. The federal government has dedicated 230 thousand
Reais The Brazilian real ( pl. '; sign: R$; code: BRL) is the official currency of Brazil. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. The Central Bank of Brazil is the central bank and the issuing authority. The real replaced the cruzeiro real in 1994. ...
(US$145 thousand) to the project efforts in
Santa Marta Santa Marta (), officially Distrito Turístico, Cultural e Histórico de Santa Marta ("Touristic, Cultural and Historic District of Santa Marta"), is a city on the coast of the Caribbean Sea in northern Colombia. It is the capital of Magdalena ...
. English signs indicating the location of attractions are posted throughout the community,
samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...
schools are open, and viewing stations have been constructed so tourists can take advantage of Rio de Janeiro's vista. Federal and state officials are carrying out marketing strategies and constructing information booths for visitors. Residents have also been trained to serve as tour guides, following the lead of pre-existing favela tour programs. Recently, favelas have been featured in multiple forms of media including movies and video games. The media representation of favelas has increased peoples' interest in favelas as tourist locations.


In popular culture

* The 1959 movie ''
Black Orpheus ''Black Orpheus'' ( Portuguese: ''Orfeu Negro'' ) is a 1959 romantic tragedy film made in Brazil by French director Marcel Camus and starring Marpessa Dawn and Breno Mello. It is based on the play ''Orfeu da Conceição'' by Vinicius de Mora ...
'' is set in an unnamed Rio favela. * The 1984 novel "Carioca Fletch" (part of the '' Fletch'' series by Gregory Mcdonald) takes place in a favela. * In his 1995 music video for the song " They Don't Care About Us" from his '' HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I'' album,
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...
featured a favela prominently in the video. * In the 2002 video game ''
Jet Set Radio Future is a 2002 action game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega for the Xbox; it is a sequel to the Dreamcast game ''Jet Set Radio'' (2000). As a re-imagining of the original game, it features improved gameplay mechanics, updated graphics, la ...
'', some of the locations take place in favela style housing, particularly Rokkaku-dai Heights and Kibogaoka Hill. * The 2002 film '' City of God'' (Portuguese: "Cidade de Deus") takes place in the favela Cidade de Deus in Rio de Janeiro from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. * Living in and escaping favela life is a theme of '' Antônia'' (2006). * The 2007 movie ''
Elite Squad ''Elite Squad'' ( pt, Tropa de Elite, ) is a 2007 Brazilian crime film based on the novel '' Elite da Tropa'' by Luiz Eduardo Soares, André Batista, and Rodrigo Pimentel. Directed by José Padilha from a screenplay by Padilha, Bráulio Ma ...
'' (Portuguese: "Tropa de Elite") is a semi-fictional account of the BOPE (Portuguese: Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais), the Special Police Operations Battalion of the Rio de Janeiro Military Police, with main action taking place in Rio's favelas. The 2010 sequel was '' Elite Squad: The Enemy Within'' (Portuguese: "Tropa de Elite 2") * The 2008
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series '' Michiko & Hatchin'' is variously set in
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...
, including Brazil, featuring favelas. * The 2008 movie '' The Incredible Hulk'' features footage shot in Rocinha. * A favela is featured in the ''
Call of Duty ''Call of Duty'' is a first-person shooter video game franchise published by Activision. Starting out in 2003, it first focused on games set in World War II. Over time, the series has seen games set in the midst of the Cold War, futuristic ...
'' franchise in the 2009 game '' Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2''. It appears in the missions "Takedown" and "The Hornet's Nest" as well as a Multiplayer map. The multiplayer map reappears in the 2014 "Invasion" DLC for '' Call of Duty: Ghosts''. * The 2011 movie '' Fast Five'' features the characters living in Rio's favelas after escaping custody by American forces. Most of Fast Five was filmed in Puerto Rico, only a few scenes were filmed in Rio * The second level in the 2011 video game '' F.3.A.R.'' takes place in a favela as the main character must make his escape from pursuing enemy forces. * In the 2011 movie ''
Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...
'', some of the scenes take place in the favela. It features the main characters (Blu and Jewel) being kidnapped for illegal wildlife trade and kept deep in one of the many houses in Rio's favelas. * In the 2012 video game '' Papo & Yo'', the game takes place in an unspecified Brazilian favela which the player has to navigate. * In the 2012 video game ''
Max Payne 3 ''Max Payne 3'' is a 2012 third-person shooter video game developed and published by Rockstar Games. It was released on May 15, 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360; a Microsoft Windows port was released on May 29, 2012, followed by an OS X ...
'', some of the levels take place in the favelas of São Paulo, with large portions of the game taking place in Brazil. * In the video for the 2012 song " Let's Go" by
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, featuring Ne-Yo, a boy wakes up in a favela in Rio. * A favela is featured as a bomb scenario map in the game ''
Counter-Strike ''Counter-Strike'' (''CS'') is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to preve ...
''. *In the
Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of his novels have b ...
game, '' Rainbow Six: Siege'', the Operation Skull Rain DLC comes with two Brazilian operators and a map which is a Brazilian favela. * The 2016
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
original series '' 3%'' features a Brazilian dystopian thriller web television set in a fictional favela, filmed in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
. * The 2019
Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
original series ''
Sintonia ''Sintonia'' is a Brazilian crime teen drama streaming television series created and directed by Kondzilla that premiered on Netflix on August 9, 2019. Narrated from the perspectives of the three characters Doni, Nando, and Rita who grew up t ...
'' is mainly set in a favela in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
.


See also

*
Abahlali baseMjondolo Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM, , in English: "the residents of the shacks") is a socialist shack dwellers' movement in South Africa which organises land occupations, builds communes
*
Barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish word that means " quarter" or " neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.), social, a ...
* Bidonville *
Cantegril ''Cantegril'' is the name given in Uruguay to a shanty town, such as those surrounding its cities including the capital Montevideo. It is equivalent to Brazil's '' favela'' and Peru's ''pueblos jóvenes''. Many of the settlements in Uruguay ...
*
Class conflict Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...
* Colonia *
Cortiço Cortiço (, , ), or gueto ( Portuguese language for "beehive" and " ghetto" respectively; tenements), is a common Portuguese term used in Brazil and Portugal for an area of concentrated, high density urban housing where people live with poor san ...
*
Gecekondu Gecekondu (Turkish for ''put up overnight'', plural gecekondular) is a Turkish word meaning a house put up quickly without proper permissions, a squatter's house, and by extension, a shanty or shack. Gecekondu bölgesi is a neighborhood made of ...
*
Ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...
*
Kibera Kibera (Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa.http://www.dominionp ...
* Komboni *
Pueblos jóvenes ''Pueblos jóvenes'' (, "young towns") is the term used for the shanty towns that surround Lima and other cities of Peru. Many of these towns have developed into districts of Lima such as Comas, Los Olivos and Villa El Salvador. Population ...
* Shanty town *
Slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily ...
*
Township (South Africa) In South Africa, the terms township and location usually refer to the often underdeveloped racially segregated urban areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of apartheid, were reserved for non-whites, namely Black Africans, Co ...
* Villa miseria Favelas *
List of favelas in Brazil This is a list of favelas in Brazil. This Portuguese word is commonly used in Brazil. Minas Gerais * Belo Horizonte ** Aglomerado da Serra ** Morro do Papagaio ** Acaba Mundo Santa Catarina * Florianópolis ** Monte Cristo Rio de Janeiro * ...
*
Heliópolis Heliópolis is a favela in the Sacomã district of São Paulo. It has around 200,000 inhabitants and has developed into a serviced neighbourhood from its beginnings as a squatted Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccup ...
* Rocinha


References

Notes Further Reading * Davies, Mike (2006) ''Planet of Slums'' (New York: Verso). *Janice Perlman (2010) '' Favela: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro'' (New York: Oxford University Press) *Ana Rosa Chagas Cavalcanti (2018). ''Housing Shaped by Labour: The Architecture of Scarcity in Informal Settlements.'' (Berlin: Jovis Press).


External links

* {{Squatting Poverty in Brazil * Housing in Brazil Human habitats Welfare in Brazil Squatting in Brazil