Product of the Underground Sociabilities research project, the book reporting results and theoretical developments was published by UNESCO in 2013. Click on the image to view or download our book free of charge.
Jovchelovitch, Sandra and Priego-Hernandez, Jacqueline (2013) Underground sociabilities: identity, culture and resistance in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas. UNESCO, Brasilia, Brazil. ISBN 9788576521808
Abstract
This is a book about patterns of sociability and social development in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It examines how favela communities, despite harsh conditions of living, poverty and segregation, have been able to mobilise local resources to resist exclusion, fight off marginalisation and rewrite relations between the favelas and the city. Drawing on a psychosocial study of four favela communities – Cantagalo, Madureira, City of God and Vigario Geral – the book maps out routes of socialisation in the favelas and systematises the work of local grassroots organisations AfroReggae and CUFA. It explores the institutional and behavioural determinants of life choices in these communities, the dynamics of agency in contexts of deprivation and how positive action for change emerges. The book shows that individual and social factors interact to shape choices and decision-making in the routes of socialisation. These include the institutional framework of favela life, the levels of porosity in the borders between the favelas and the city and the psychosocial scaffoldings that support and mediate how people deal with contextual adversity. The book will be useful to academics in the social sciences and humanities, policymakers, activists and all those who are interested in human-centred social and community development, urban planning, and communication across asymmetries in the contemporary city.
Translations
To read or download our book in Portuguese, click here.
We also have a Spanish document presenting our findings, find it here.
Reviews
See the review of our Book by Vinicius Mariano de Carvalho on the LSE Review of Books blog.
Read the Book Review by Mary Anne Lauri in the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology (requires institutional access).
Further materials
Listen to the LSE Review of Books in Brazil Podcast – ‘Episode 2: Favela life. From drug gangs to drum beats‘, featuring our research.
Listen to our interview with Radio ONU, explaining the main findings of our research (in Spanish).
To know more about our research partnership model, click here.
