The embodied state: governmentality in a Brazilian favela

Abstract

Given that the influence of the state apparatus tends to vary across space, it has been frequently presumed that the state develops a stronger presence in wealthier neighborhoods (where levels of capital accumulation are higher) than it does in poorer ones. In Brazilian favelas (urban slums), as a prominent example, ethnographic accounts have previously suggested that the presence of the ‘official’ state is limited and on the decline. Based on the results of intensive fieldwork in Fortaleza, Brazil, this paper complicates that argument, positing that the state, through the effects of governmentality, may actually have a much stronger presence in favelas than has often been presumed. Drawing upon case research with favela residents, and interpreting through a Foucaultian perspective, this paper explains the increasing presence of the state through the governmentality produced in urban space. By recognizing how the state manifests both in and through bodies and space, researchers are provided better traction for understanding proliferating urban slums and explaining the political landscapes they engender.

Étant donné que l'influence des appareils d'état a tendance à varier à travers l'espace, il a été fréquemment supposé que l'Etat développe une présence plus forte dans les quartiers plus riches (où les échelons d'accumulation de capital sont plus élevés) que dans les quartiers moins riches. Dans les favelas brésiliennes, comme un exemple prédominant, les comptes ethnographiques ont précédemment suggéré que la présence de l'Etat ‘officiel’ est limitée et en baisse. Basé sur les résultats du travail intensif sur le terrain à Fortaleza, Brésil, cet article a complexifié cet argument, en postulant que l'Etat, à travers les actions de la gouvernementalité, pourrait avoir une présence plus forte aux favelas qu'on ne l'a souvent présumé. En utilisant les études du cas avec les résidents de la favela, et en interprétant à travers une perspective foucaldienne, cet article explique la présence en hausse de l'Etat au travers de la gouvernementalité qui a été produit dans l'espace urbain. En reconnaissant comment l'Etat manifeste aussi bien à l'intérieur de qu'à travers les corps et l'espace, les chercheurs sont équipés d'une meilleure adhérence pour une compréhension proliférée des taudis urbains et pour expliquer les paysages politiques qu'ils engendrent.

Hecho que la influencia del aparato del estado se tiende variar a través el espacio, está presumido con frecuencia que el estado tiene una presencia más fuerte en los barrios ricos (donde los niveles del acumulación capital están más altos) que los barrios pobres. En las favelas Brasileñas (barriadas urbanas), como un ejemplo prominente, informes etnográficos han implicado que la presencia del estado ‘oficial’ está limitado y disminuyendo. Basado en los resultados de un trabajo de campo intensivo en Fortaleza, Brasil, este papel se complica aquel argumento, se propone que el estado, a través los efectos de gobermentalidad, se podría tener una presencia mucho más fuerte en las favelas que ha sido presumido. Hacer uso de una investigación con los residentes de las favelas, este papel se explica la presencia aumentada del estado por gobermentalidad producido en el espacio urbano. Por reconocer como el estado se manifiesta ambos en y a través cuerpos y espacio, investigadores están proporcionado con mejor adherencia por entender la proliferación de barriadas urbanas y explicando los paisajes políticos que se engendre.

Keywords:

• governmentality
• state
• Foucault
• Brazil
• favela
• television

Keywords:

• gouvernementalité
• l'Etat
• Foucault
• Brésil
• favela, télévision

Keywords:

• gobermentalidad
• estado
• Foucault
• Brasil
• favela
• televisión

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost gratitude to Oélito, Ceissa, and Melissa Brandão, along with many other friends in the community of Pirambu. Many thanks also go to (in alphabetical order) Jessica De La Ossa, Flávia Bessa Maia, and Wilson and Muriel Korol for their help and collaboration throughout the research process, along with Bill Calhoun and Jeovah Meireles for their assistance in Fortaleza. This paper was greatly benefitted by the comments of (also in alphabetical order) Burt Barickman, Sarah de Leeuw, John Paul Jones III, Elaine Mariolle, Sallie Marston, Vanessa Massaro, Anne Ranek, Paul Robbins, Ian Shaw, and W. Scott Whitlock, along with the comments of those in attendance at the 2008 AAG session entitled ‘Cities and Urban Regions of Latin America II’ (organized by Joel Outtes) and the judges of the 2008 LASG paper competition. And finally, I thank the anonymous referees and the editor for their many brilliant insights. All errors remain, of course, my own.

Notes

1 Throughout this paper I refer to my research site as ‘Pirambu.’ The greater Pirambu community is actually made up of several smaller neighborhoods (see Figure 1), and out of respect for confidentiality, I have chosen to withhold the specific neighborhood where I lived and worked while in the field.

2 Out of respect for confidentiality, the names of all those who participated in this research, unless they requested otherwise, have been changed. All conversations were held in Portuguese, and all subsequent translations are the work of the author.

3 Originally used to describe low-income public housing agglomerations in late nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro, Caldeira uses the term to describe ‘a type of tenement occupied by workers who cannot afford to own a home, even through autoconstruction’ (2000: 14).

4 My use of the term ‘embodiment’ here and throughout the paper draws primarily upon the work of Alison Mountz (2004) and Joanne Sharp (2007). As Mountz writes, following Gupta (1995), Hanson and Stepputat (2001), Pratt (1999), and others, embodied analyses are valuable in that they ‘mov[e] beyond analyses of policy and structure, to the more fluid, daily, personal interactions that surround and disrupt these formal instruments of governance to locate political processes in a time and a place’ (2004: 325).

5 A few methodological comments are in order. This project began in the summer of 2005 when I stayed in Pirambu while conducting research on agrarian reform in Ceará (Garmany 2008). I returned to Pirambu during the summers of 2006 and 2007 to investigate the effects of an urban development project upon local residents, and then again for six months in 2008–2009 in order to consider questions of governance within the community. The data in this paper come from semi- and unstructured interviews, focus group gatherings, round-the-clock participant observation, and archival research collected over this four-year period during my visits to Fortaleza where I stayed all the while with a small family in Pirambu. Recognizing the highly subjective nature of my content and discourse analysis, in this paper I rely primarily upon direct quotes and personal observations for empirical evidence in order to avoid ‘trust me’ claims about the veracity of my findings. While my own appearance and the perceptions of those I spoke with undoubtedly influenced the interview process (i.e., people in Pirambu were often surprised at first that I, an obvious outsider, spoke fluent Portuguese), I do not attempt to alter or qualify any of the quotes in this paper. My goal is not to argue that any researcher would have had the same conversations that I did: instead, following in a rich ethnographic tradition of attempting to reproduce people in their own words, it is to query how the Brazilian state is embodied and produced in the everyday practices of pirambuenses.

6 All data pertaining to Pirambu, unless cited otherwise, come from the author's fieldnotes (2005–2009).

7 My use of the word ‘hygiene’ in this paper is not meant to focus solely upon the individual practices that maintain ‘clean’ bodies, but rather to refer more broadly to the conditions and general practices necessary for good health (e.g., codes of urban order, design, architecture, and policy that enable individual hygienic practices—for a more thorough investigation of this topic, please see Huxley 2007 and Outtes 2003).