Abstract

RAPOSO, Otávio. LABORATORY OF CITIZENSHIP: Creativity and resistance in the favelas of Maré. CIDADES [online]. 2015, n.31, pp.70-84. ISSN 2182-3030.  https://doi.org/10.15847/citiescommunitiesterritories.dec2015.031.art05.

The favelas (shanty towns) of Maré stand out in Rio de Janeiro by the large number of NGOs offering artistic and cultural activities for youth. This context was crucial to the emergence of one of the most influential groups of breakdancers in the city, whose skills and dedication allowed them to become autonomous from teachers and formal institutions. The use of life style to cross the borders imposed by the drug trafficking gangs is an example of how the creative dancers resist violence and demand the freedom to come and go between the favelas of Maré, a strategy that is being played by other youth cultures. In addition to exposing the cultural practices of these dancers, I narrate in this article the challenges of doing ethnography in a remarkably violent context and the experience of looking for house for lease in the neighborhood.

Keywords : Youth; Hip-hop; Favela; Shanty town; Ethnography; Citizenship; Creativity.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Portuguese     · Portuguese ( pdf )