Brazilian youth experiencing poverty: Everyday life in the favela

Abstract

Based on a comprehensive perspective of reality, this study aimed to analyze the representations that young dwellers of a Brazilian favela have about that place, focusing on the impacts on urban mobility and everyday life. Data were collected through workshops conducted with young people attending a non-governmental organization located in a favela in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The participants were seven youngsters aged 15-21 years. During the workshops, the participants constructed a "City of Youth" with the purpose of representing what they wanted for a city. They discussed whether or not there would be a favela in this city and its residents' access to other spaces in the city, especially to leisure areas. It was observed that poverty is an important social marker in the representations about Brazilian favelas, and that the stigma associated with them are incorporated and reproduced by their youth. These facts reflect the possibilities and impossibilities of urban mobility of young favela dwellers, directly affecting their everyday lives and limiting their opportunities for social participation and access to social life.

Intersectoral actions in decreasing social inequities faced by children and adolescents

“…Many children and adolescents in various countries worldwide have little or no access to quality health services or education, good nutrition, or adequate sanitation ( 1 - 3 ) . Unequal access to social rights and basic resources required to promote satisfactory development is intrinsically linked to the individuals’ social class, that is, mainly children and adolescents from families experiencing social vulnerability, living in impoverished areas, are affected ( 4 ) .…”

“…Poverty and inequality increased worldwide, mostly due to the globalization of economies and work restructuring, leading to increased unemployment rates and the breakdown of social ties. Hence, due to persistent social inequality, societies continue to violate the rights of children and adolescents from low-income families, maintaining a context of inequality for this age group ( 4 , 10 - 11 ) .…”

Picturing precarity through occupational mapping: Making the (im)mobilities of long-term unemployment visible

“…However, the discipline has yet to incorporate the mobilities paradigm that has characterized a 'mobilities turn' in the social sciences (Faist, 2013;Sheller, 2017). A possible exception is the recent research by Gonçalves and Serrata Malfitano (2020) who explored urban mobility and everyday life as experienced by youth in a Brazilian favela.…”

Introduction to the Anti-Racism Virtual Issue of the Journal of Occupational Science

“…Bailliard (2013) describes how Latino migrants in the USA are restricted from participating in society due to anti-migrant sentiments and discriminatory public policy. Focusing on inhabited spaces, Gonçalves and Malfitano (2020) and Pizarro et al (2018aPizarro et al ( , 2018b propose that Brazilian 'favelas' and Chilean 'campamentos' can serve as social markers of poverty that hinder residents from accessing social life. Rivas-Quarneti et al (2018) show how women's experience of immigration in Spain can contribute to discussions about occupational justice in occupational science.…”