Post‐liberalism and the politics of liberation: Brazilian favelas as emergent territories of freedom

Abstract

Brazilian favelas (shantytowns) are often considered as marginalized urban territories that must be better integrated into the nation‐state to obtain legitimacy under the Rule of Law. Based on years of fieldwork in one of the largest shantytowns in Rio de Janeiro (Rocinha), this article suggests that the absence of a (normative) liberal apparatus in favelas is not necessarily a political deficiency, but evidence of post‐liberalism. Can favela dwellers speak outside (or despite) the current nation‐state framework of rationality and liberalism? Can they speak of their own freedoms? Some frameworks insist on representing favela dwellers exclusively as victims of structural violence. In these, the possibility that freedoms and liberties can exist beyond a (normative) liberal framework is often ignored. I consider the genealogy of Brazilian favelas beyond the established tropes of poverty and suffering, indicating that the history of favelas is enmeshed in political experiments with liberation. Ethnographic evidence demonstrates that public reason, justice, and freedom can take unexpected forms in the favela. The ‘dangers of romanticizing poverty’ and the political effects of representing favela dwellers as political agents entitled to freedom are also considered. I conclude that more than satisfying (normative) liberal sensibilities, we could foster a more ‘indexical’ mode of representation as a collaborative strategy for liberation.