Negotiating Boundaries: Gender, Violence And Transformation In Brazil (gender And Politics)

The favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro provide an ideal case study since they are renowned for high levels of police and gang violence resulting in high death rates among young black men, causing both outrage and fear. This book foregrounds women's experiences and how different forms of violence overlap and reinforce one another. "The favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro are renowned for their high levels of urban violence at the hands of gangs and the police. This book problematises the exclusive focus on men as the victims of these wars played out on city streets, an approach which serves to trivialize and sideline the experiences and victimization of women. Nevertheless, women are both actors and victims in these wars, as well as suffering from distinct forms of violence, most notably domestic and sexual violence. This book explores the moral, ideological and spatial boundaries that are produced by high levels of violence and the ways in which they govern everyday interaction, behaviour and movement. Men and women engage with these boundaries in distinctive ways, in negotiating or challenging the imposition of norms and unwritten wars that delimit everyday behaviour. The book argues for a more holistic gendered perspective in how we conceptualise the issue of urban violence and how we develop alternatives and initiatives to tackle violence in general"--Provided by publisher Front Matter....Pages i-viii Introduction – Everyday Experiences of Violence....Pages 1-22 Territorial Boundaries....Pages 23-47 Public/Private Boundaries....Pages 48-76 The Boundaries of Acceptability....Pages 77-94 Projects....Pages 95-117 Projects Tackling Violence....Pages 118-139 Conclusion....Pages 140-148 Back Matter....Pages 149-174