Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Media Studies
Second Department
Foreign Languages
Reader 1
Carlin Wing
Reader 2
Norman Valencia
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2024 Vasti A Cruz
Abstract
This project spotlights improvised housing in the peripheral areas of São Paulo, Brazil, better known as favelas. For over a century, the favela has been known as a place of death, violence, crime, and oppression. Paradoxically, the first favelas in Rio de Janeiro were named after a plant that produces flowers. However, today, these communities are rarely compared to their beautiful, symbolic-of-life namesake. Instead, this prejudgement is rampant not only globally, but also within the proper city– which perpetuates social division. When favelas are discussed in the media, they often reference those in Rio de Janeiro; however, favelas are present throughout Brazil. Favela culture in Rio is different from that in São Paulo, which is usually absent from the conversation– even in the academic world. This project, a digital zine, demystifies the favela and argues that the favela, in São Paulo specifically, is a self-sustaining birthplace of resilience and an exporter of culture to the rest of the country, and the world at large. Through interviews, I will answer the main questions: What aspects of culture does the favela export to Brazilian society? How does this social divide affect inhabitants of the favela? How is the favela a place of resistance?
Recommended Citation
Cruz, Vasti, "The Favela Blossoms: Voices of Favelas in São Paulo, Brazil" (2024). Scripps Senior Theses. 2355.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2355
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