In their research, Anjuli Fahlberg, Cristiane Martins, Joiceane Lopes, Ana Cláudia Araújo, Lidiane Santos, Sophia Costa, and Guilherme Baratho examine how democracy is being recreated in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, particularly Cidade de Deus, where Covid-19 was first recorded. Drawing on their research on the pandemic’s impact on local residents vis-à-vis emergent forms of autonomous governance and how these are shaped by gender and racial dynamics, they argue that civic associations’ mobilization tactics in Cidade de Deus can help us understand how democracy is being reinvented in these spaces under conditions of extreme governmental neglect.
Ana Claudia Araujo
Ana Claudia Araujo is currently completing her BA in social work at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). She is a judicial intern at the Forum of Bangu and is part of the Nucleus of Studies in Education and Student Assistance (NEEAE-UERJ), a research group focused on creating social networks to place interns with social workers in the field. Finally, Araujo is one of the coordinators of the college entrance exams preparatory classes at Arteiros Institute, an NGO in Cidade de Deus, and a researcher of the Building Together Research Collective.