Favela Tourism: Stranger than Fiction
Favela Tourism: Stranger than Fiction
by COHA Research Associate Tess Burns
In the wake of President Obama’s recent visit to Rio de Janeiro, which included a tour through the notorious City of God slum, questions have been raised regarding the fate of Brazil’s hill-draped favelas. Brazilian and foreign officials have expressed concern related to the crime-infested favelas, especially in light of the upcoming Brazil-hosted 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. In an effort to qualm international and domestic anxiety, municipal and federal forces are acting together to combat drug lords and rid favelas of potentially spoiling transgressors who could have a devastating impact on the country’s image. However, law enforcement agencies are not the only factions trying to bring about severely needed change. Favela tourism is also playing a role, with tourists acting alongside government officials to revise global attitudes toward these impoverished communities. In this setting, tourism is helping to stimulate the traditionally hapless economies of the favelas. However, as it is not the official responsibility of foreign tourists to break down the barriers between favela residents and the rest of Brazilian society, Brasília is attempting to invest genuine enthusiasm in the renovation of favelas, beyond the current pacification programs, in which violence is freely used.
A New Perspective
The original wave of Brazilian
favelas arose in the early twentieth century when
desperately poor rural families began migrating to Rio in
search of employment opportunities after the abolition of
slavery in 1888.1 As housing was not readily available,
shanties were constructed on the only available
land—hillsides. Over a century later, approximately 1
million Cariocas (residents of Rio de Janeiro) occupy the
hundreds of favelas littering Rio.
Favela tourism,
an increasingly popular tourist avenue, could help to dent
the abysmal level of socio-economic inequality in Rio de
Janeiro. These tours, first introduced in the early 1990s,
draw awareness to the searing needs of Rio’s
underprivileged population, while giving tourists access to
a side of Rio that often lurks in the shadows.2 The tours
are viewed as a spectacular, if grim, alternative to
mainstream Rio de Janeiro attractions, such as Sugarloaf
Mountain and Christ the Redeemer. They offer a brief
portrayal of Rio’s hillside communities that are far more
than the habitats often misrepresented by drug lords and
criminals.3
Every year, Favela Tour, one of the most
popular touring companies in Rio, takes upwards of 4,500
tourists through the streets of Rocinha (the largest favela
in Latin America) and Vila Canoas.4 Directed by trained
guides, tourists are herded to the favelas in vans, and then
venture through the twists and turns of the community’s
hillside by foot. Guides walk their groups down main streets
and point out local hot spots. Most tours stop by a
community center or school, which are often funded in part
by the tour’s profits. Tourists are given the opportunity
to interact with local members of the community, leaders,
and area officials, adding to their impressions of favela
life. Depending on the tour, some companies will allow
pictures to be taken in predetermined areas, while others
prohibit picture-taking completely.
A Beneficial
Endeavor
Tourism stirs an entrepreneurial spirit in
favela residents. They are encouraged to explore their
talents and create crafts that appeal to passing tourists.
Paintings, jewelry, purses, t-shirts, and key chains, among
other lembranças, fill booths adorning the side streets.
Unlike charitable donations, the exchange between tourists
and residents has often tutored residents’ business sense
and has helped prepare some for future entry into job
markets beyond the favelas. Tourists seem to enjoy buying
Brazilian souvenirs and often participate in tours with this
intention uppermost in their minds.
Tourists learn about
these favelas from those who know them best, as tour guides
are often recruited from the ranks of the favelas. During
the tour, they attempt to share their lives with tourists
while guiding them through the highlights of favela life
which they avidly embrace. In the case of the Rocinha
Tourism Workshop, an initiative directed by Rejane Reis,
adolescents may also help direct tours.5 In order to promote
the importance of education, Reis pays the young guides
every time they attend geography and basic English classes.
In addition, each student guide earns double the amount when
they participate in a tour. By integrating younger
generations, or os jovens, into the tours, Reis is
stimulating change from within the favelas. In this way,
youth learn the value of hard work and every effort is made
to appropriately compensate them for their contributions.
Additionally, interaction with foreigners gives jovens
access to new perspectives and cultures. Involving gifted
youth from the favelas will notably stand out, showing the
best sides of favela life and helping the country move along
its development plan.
Proponents of the tours also argue
that the interaction between favela residents and foreign
tourists encourages expansion of aid efforts. After walking
through the favelas and learning about daily life from
residents, tourists are more likely to support the economic
and social advancement of the communities. Tourists
characteristically empathize with the residents and are
quick to show their concern about the substandard living
conditions.6 Because tours often pass through community
centers or schools that receive financial support from the
tour’s profits, participants feel that they have a direct
impact on the lives of the residents they encounter. Both
the tourists and the residents are pleased to see that a
portion of the companies’ profits is reinvested in
community improvement initiatives. Additional aid projects
are likely to be tackled with the rising popularity of these
tours.
Through the expansion of favela tourism,
foreigners are quick to understand that the international
media chronically misrepresent the residents of favelas.
There are not simply crime afflicted areas, but epicenters
of the cultural fluidity of a distinct society. Favela
residents take part in numerous samba schools, made famous
by Rio’s extravagant Carnaval celebrations.7 Theotonio dos
Santos, an economist specializing in sustainable development
for the Global Economics Network, states that
“[h]istorically, the favelas have always fostered the best
samba schools, and many of the country’s top musicians
grew up in them.”8 Favelas are also the stomping grounds
of the creators of Funk Carioca, a type of dance music that
is enormously popular in Brazil and has now gained worldwide
popularity.9 Dos Santos also boasts that favelas have a
number of cultural attributes, explaining “[t]his is where
the special Baile Funk parties are held, and often you can
spot the newest tendencies of Brazilian fashion in the
favelas.” Tourism motivates the circulation of favela
culture and will open outlets to prospective enthusiasts in
the outside world.
Not Without Its
Critics
Critics of the favela tours often dispute some of
the motivation behind tourists’ participation and
adamantly depict the tours as voyeuristic, especially when
they allow pictures of residents to be taken. Those who
condemn favela tourism often consider it unethical and a
form of resident exploitation. It is as if residents are on
display, as tourists sit foraging with their cameras in
search for the perfect candid pose. Perhaps tourists are
only interested in entering favelas so that they can
juxtapose residents’ lives to their much more bourgeois
ones at home. Critics also question the authenticity of
favela tours, claiming that it is impossible for a tourist
to imagine the daily hardships and grime experienced by
favela residents, as they are free to escape the grinding
impoverishment and return to their downtown luxury hotels
once the tour is over. For critics, it is pretentious and
naïve to think that a tourist can draw concrete conclusions
about favela life after spending just a few hours dropping
into one. Some residents have recognized these flaws, as
resident Bernadete Soares Pereira notes, “[t]he tours in
Rocinha go to the poorest areas, the tourists take pictures
of the poor people in miserable houses, and then they go
back home.”10 Furthermore, favela tourism may not even be
sustainable. If tourists are flocking to Rio’s favelas for
the purpose of sneaking a glance at the city’s most
destitute inhabitants, and not for the panoramic in-depth
story, residents would have to continue living in poverty in
order to attract new visitors. Tourism may only fuel a
prolonged cycle of impoverishment for residents.
Brazilian Government Takes Notice
Regardless of the
critiques, the Brazilian federal government views favela
tourism with high regard. The administration of Luiz Inácio
Lula da Silva initiated a program to further implement
tourism into the structure of favela economies.11 In
response to the unfortunate neglect of Rio’s lower class,
Lula affirmed that “[w]e are obliged to make up for the
time lost and ensure that our children will not have to
refer to any area as a favela.”12 The Rio Top Tour
Project, inaugurated in August 2010, promotes tourism
throughout the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Beginning in Santa
Marta, a favela of approximately 5,000 Cariocas, federal aid
was administered in order to invigorate the tourism
industry. The federal government has dedicated 230 thousand
Reais (USD 145 thousand) to the project efforts in Santa
Marta. English signs indicating the location of attractions
are posted throughout the community, samba schools are open,
and viewing stations have been constructed so tourists can
take advantage of Rio de Janeiro’s over-powering vista.
Federal and state officials are carrying out marketing
strategies and constructing information booths for visitors.
Residents have also been trained to serve as tour guides,
following the lead of pre-existing favela tour programs.
Conclusion
It is unclear whether the Rio Top Tour
Project has been effective; information regarding employment
and crime rates since the project’s enactment is difficult
to evaluate. It is possible that results will not be evident
until the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, and
even then, favelas will continue to require extensive
government monitoring to produce analyzable data. The
Brazilian federal government must actively combat deficits
in education, healthcare, and infrastructural systems in
order to expedite social advancement.
Tourism
initiatives, like the Top Tour Project, address only a
fragment of what needs to be done to invigorate the favelas.
Although tourism helps fill some residents’ pockets with
additional resources, raises foreign awareness of the
inadequate living conditions, and reveals a cultural
richness to global society, federally funded initiatives
relating to the favelas must expand. It is not enough to
allocate a few hundred thousand dollars towards a project
that does not devote itself to fixing fundamental
deficiencies, such as the lack of well-functioning
education, healthcare, and infrastructural systems. It is
the responsibility of the municipal, state, and federal
governments to ensure that the needs of residents are no
longer overlooked. However, on a positive note, as the
Brazilian federal government works with Rio’s municipal
leaders to continue pacification efforts, favela communities
will likely become increasingly appealing to visitors. One
can only hope that foreign tourists’ recognition of some
of the inherent resources of favelas will help to generate
additional action by the Brazilian government, leading to
substantial, and sustainable, change.
http://www.coha.org/favela-tourism-stranger-than-fiction/
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ENDS