“Authoritarian Enclaves:” The New Spatial Segregation in the Peripheries of Rio de Janeiro

Keywords: Milícias, “Authoritarian Enclaves,” Modes of Urbanization, Segregation, informality
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 3

Abstract

The peripheries of large Brazilian metropolises emerged from the process of socio-spatial segregation of the urban poor. Nevertheless, some authors point out that peripheries also reproduce segregation internally due to different modes and agents of urbanization in place (Lago & Cardoso, 2015; Caldeira, 2017), becoming simultaneously segregated and segregating spaces. My research in the peripheries of Rio de Janeiro complexifies and adds to these studies by analyzing a new agent of urbanization called milícias, a criminal group. They produce what I call “authoritarian enclaves,” which correspond to land subdivisions and publicly, privately, or autoconstructuted housing illegally appropriated and/or built. These enclaves are well delimited and operate with their own social and administrative rules and service fees. In effect, individuals who are opposed to the rules or unable to bear the costs of living in them are expelled. I argue that “authoritarian enclaves” combine characteristics and mechanisms of previous modes of urbanization in the peripheries—such as land subdivisions and favelas—but create a new segregation logic that includes, but is not limited to, economic, political, religious, behavioral, and social factors. This work, which is part of my ongoing doctoral research, consists of the literature review on and the periodization of urbanization in the peripheries of Rio de Janeiro since the 1940s, highlighting its main agents and modes, their effects on socio-spatial segregation. This work counts with: (a) ethnographic material collected in 2019 and 2021, (b) a bibliographic review of the literature on Rio’s urbanization, and (c) archival research in local newspapers.