Turismo de favela: representações, estigma e poder

Abstract

Favela tourism is an activity that has been expanding swiftly around the world. Despite this, little research has so far been conducted around this topic, especially in relation to the perception of the local resident, who, in most cases, stands apart from the processes of tourism implementation and sale in the area where he or she resides. The practice in question is also grounded in the power asymmetry that characterises relationships among the visitors, the visited and the external agents who benefit from favela tourism. Unflattering stereotypes are evoked as favela tourism takes place involving both areas and social groups historically stigmatised. The aim of this study is to identify whether such aspects have an impact on local residents’ perception and behaviour vis-à-vis favela tourism. Forty-eight interviews, as well as systematised observation, have been conducted between September, 2015 and July, 2016 at the favelas of Rocinha and Santa Marta, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. These communities have been chosen because favela tourism takes different formats in them. The hermeneutics-based analysis has revealed that, in both favelas, residents take a favourable approach towards tourism, albeit with a few reservations to how it is explored by external agents. The accounts compiled do not indicate the presence of feelings of inferiority on the part of the residents during their social encounters with tourists, most of these from foreign countries. However, at Rocinha, most of the interviewees resent the feeling of invasiveness and exploitation by tourist companies with no connection to the favelas. These residents have confessed to feelings of shame and animosity towards the way in which these companies seek to introduce tourists to several negative aspects related to stigmas of poverty by deliberately pointing to the dirt building up over sewage channels, the poverty of residents, the mesh of illegal wiring connected to the electricity grid and the precariousness of homes, which contributes to the devaluation of both the area and its residents.