Capability Failures and Corrosive Disadvantage in a Violent Rainforest Metropolis

Abstract

Governments continue to narrowly equate improved well-being with economic growth, contrary to decades of development scholarship. The capabilities approach, instead, emphasizes freedom and what individuals are able to do and to be within society. However, it underplays structural determinants of social inequities and says little about violence, a dominant problem in metropolitan areas of Latin America. Framing our analysis around capabilities and theorizing on disadvantage, we examine experiences of inequity and violence in Manaus, a metropolis in the Brazilian Amazon. We show how the threat of physical violence is highly corrosive because it underpins a cluster of disadvantage that profoundly impacts central capabilities, including emotions, bodily integrity, and affiliation. Social isolation is commonplace because interactions are perceived as risks rather than pathways to mutual recognition. Violence begets violence in low-income neighborhoods and this constrains capabilities, causes shame and indignity, and limits potential for self-realization. Policy makers should address how disadvantaged people feel about themselves, relate to others, and are able to decide how to conduct their daily lives. Keywords: poverty, symbolic violence, urban."When I arrived here, we had little money and few possessions," said Maria, referring to the neighborhood of São Jorge, Manaus, in the 1960s. "Here was considered Manaus' periphery, and it looked like people were living in small farms; there were no paved roads or electricity. Our family used to grow food in our garden. I used to swim in the Cachoeiras Igarapé [a river close to her house] and I knew most of our neighbors . . . The biggest change from those times is more robberies now. . . . This week a man was killed on my street . . . A few weeks ago, a man broke into my house. When I encountered him, I was so frightened I thought I'd have a heart attack. I couldn't move or breathe. Luckily, he left without harming me. . . . Nowadays, I'm scared of tending my garden because I feel exposed and vulnerable there, and worry about being robbed. I spend most of my time inside my house with all the doors and gates locked.M aria, like many manauaras, as people from Manaus are known, has tangible reasons to worry about her safety. She lives on Cachoeira Street, considered to be one of the most dangerous in the city, which has 1,660 violent deaths per year (Orellana et al. 2017). This equates to almost double Brazil's national homicide rate (Cerqueira et al. 2018). Manauaras are only too aware of the risks

From ‘prison’ to ‘paradise’? Seeking freedom at the rainforest frontier through urban–rural migration

“…Our understanding, therefore, is that people can live physically, and emotionally-healthier lives on the ramais and perform fundamental functionings and capabilities related to wellbeing. This is in stark contrast with their urban lives when they felt their capacity for beings and doings constrained (Piva da Silva et al, 2021).…”

“…It shows how the urban-rural move, and subsequently struggling for rights and recognition, makes possible a series of capability improvements. Put differently, people were able to transform a situation of capability failures (Piva da Silva et al, 2021) in the city, through a move to a forest frontier. The section looks at the city and the forest frontier in turn, drawing out the differences in safety, hierarchy and social stigma, and stress and health in each location.…”

“…Feeling safer in the ramais than in the city had numerous effects of people's lives. First, people became more comfortable in being alone, and independently undertaking everyday tasks, outside in their plots, in stark contrast to the urban sensation of 'living in a prison' (see Piva da Silva et al, 2021). Second, being outside and less cautious enabled people to develop relationships; opening up, getting to know and trust their neighbours, appreciating and supporting their shared struggles to develop and maintain rural livelihoods.…”

“…Like Lúcia, most people living on these colonisation roads (ramais) have arrived relatively recently -between 2005 and 2015-after spending most of their lives in the city. Most were fleeing the low-income and violent neighbourhoods where they had lived in Manaus (see Piva da Silva, Fraser, & Parry, 2021).…”

“…Instead, their primary motive was to escape the violence of urban life and the ways in which it renders them unfree. Ramais are, according to them, much safer than the city streets due to a reduced risk of violence and this considerably reduces fears around bodily integrity (see Piva da Silva et al, 2021). Reduced anxiety appears to foster improved emotional well-being because people feel less worried, tense and stressed.…”