Description
Book SynopsisTrade ReviewHow is social mobilization possible in gang territories? Anjuli Fahlberg's research answers this question, affirming the necessity to differentiate favela activism from traditional social movements. Activism under Fire is a powerful concept to understand the strategy of non-violence adopted by political actors as part of their resistance and adaptation to violent and restrictive contexts. Fahlberg's original participatory field research reveals how favela activists have constructed a sphere of non-violent politics, which operates politically parallel to, and symbolically in opposition to, the sphere of violent politics in the neighborhood. * Sonia Fleury, Senior Researcher, Center for Strategic Studies, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation *
This book is a gem. Anjuli Fahlberg writes this 'conduit of stories' with a refreshing self-awareness and respect for her community collaborators, gracefully integrating grassroots ethnography with the academic literature. What she calls 'pragmatic resistance' in the City of God is something I have observed in Rio's favelas over the past three decades as turf wars between drug gangs and their dance with the police and militias have taken lethal violence to new extremes. * Janice Perlman, author of The Myth of Marginality and Favela: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Conflict Activism in Rio de Janeiro's Gang Territories 1. Cidade de Deus: A Contested Territory 2. Milking the Resource Matrix: Democracy, Development, and Digital Devices 3. Violent Clientelism and Gendered Governance 4. Political Upcycling: Anti-Violence Protest through Education, Culture, and Racial Solidarity 5. Ties that Strengthen, Ties that Bind: Favela Actors in Urban Politics and Transnational Movements Conclusion: Seek and Ye Shall Find: Looking for Non- Violence in Conflict Zones Appendix: Ethnographic Reflections: Participatory Action Research in Areas of Violence Notes Bibliography Index
