Voices from the Favelas : Media Activism and Counter-Narratives from Below

The mainstream media in Brazil portrays favelas (unregulated low-income neighbourhoods) in a negative light. This has been the case for over a century, since their very beginning. This book will navigate through the contemporary representation of the favelas in the established media, discussing how this partial representation impacts on issues of identity and social segregation and the legitimation of structural violence in those sites and will provide an account of the recent emergence of digital social networks as ''counter publics'' and an overview of the image of the favelas in the social media. In order to understand the struggle against the characterisation of the favela as a site dominated by violence (a framework which has been disseminated on a global scale and accepted as the norm), this book will take its readers inside the mindset of the favela media activists, examining the production of information and the organisation of residents as they resist and challenge the status quo. Are the activists able to counteract the official narrative in the struggles against misrepresentation and social invisibility or is the mainstream version of the favela still strong enough to help in the legitimation of the institutionalised violence?