Transgressive Citizenship and the Struggle for Social Justice: The Right to the City in São Paulo (Studies of the Americas)

This book analyses the struggle for social justice in São Paulo, Brazil. It takes the wave of protests that began in the city in 2013 as a starting point, and grounds them in the history of social movement mobilisation in urban Brazil. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with a federation of housing movements, this work demonstrates the ongoing relevance of the concept of the right to the city for social movements of the urban poor, and examines these movements’ creative interpretation of national legislation to support their claims for housing and urban citizenship. Front Matter....Pages i-xvi Introduction....Pages 1-26 Housing, Citizenship and the Right to the City....Pages 27-64 São Paulo: The Illegal City....Pages 65-104 Social Movements in Brazil: Democratization and Politicization....Pages 105-142 Fronting Up to the State: Constructing a ‘Politics of Rights’....Pages 143-179 The Limits to Institutional Engagement: Negotiating Housing Policy the Nice Way....Pages 181-220 Occupying the City....Pages 221-260 Transgressive Citizenship....Pages 261-294 Back Matter....Pages 295-318