{"id":24985,"date":"2015-10-30T12:26:16","date_gmt":"2015-10-30T15:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=24985"},"modified":"2015-10-30T12:26:52","modified_gmt":"2015-10-30T15:26:52","slug":"lessons-from-the-favela-favelas-at-the-vanguard-of-collaborative-economies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=24985","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from the Favela: Favelas at the Vanguard of Collaborative Economies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

For the original article by Hilaine Yaccoub* in Portuguese published by Brasil\u00a0247 click<\/i><\/span> here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hilaine Yaccoub, PhD\u00a0in Anthropology of Consumption\u00a0at\u00a0the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), came to this conclusion after four years of research in the Barreira do Vasco<\/a> favela in Rio de Janeiro: \u201cThe favela is at the forefront of the shared economy and collective consumerism. It is an intrinsic value that should serve as an example for many societies. Was I seeing a response or an alternative to modern or individualistic \u2018consumerism\u2019?\u201d she asks.<\/h4>\n

What I have experienced and learned from living \u2018up close and personal\u2019 with residents of a favela in Rio de Janeiro:<\/em><\/h4>\n

Most anthropologists carry out so-called \u2018field work\u2019 to observe and learn facts about the phenomena we study. Through this methodology, known as \u2018ethnography,\u2019 we coexist with the group, we live in the place, participating in daily life. We create bonds of friendship and trust with people to take part in local life with the mind-frame of a real local. And so it was that, for almost four years, I was part of daily life in a residents\u2019 network in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Here I will tell the story of two situations that inspired me to write my thesis and changed my way of seeing my profession, my lifestyle and, above all, the way I existed. No one comes back from the field \u2018indifferent.\u2019 There\u2019s no doubt, people change.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was sitting in a nook [copa] of Vaninha\u2019s house when the phone rang and she answered: \u201cOf course come here, I have milk here, you don\u2019t need to bring it, no, but I don\u2019t have oats\u2026haha. Okay, come over, I will be expecting you.\u201d She hung up and I asked who had called. \u201cThe lady who works in the Cr\u00ea bank (called Cleonice, her older sister sells candy and coconut water in the square) needs to make porridge but her gas has run out and so she asked if she can borrow my stove, so she will come over now to make it.\u201d It was Saturday night (quite late) so it was impossible to buy a new gas canister.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the time that I lived intimately within\u00a0this social network, I realized this was common practice. Asking neighbors and members of the network for help or support in everyday emergencies came to be routine. It was seen as totally \u2018normal,\u2019 something that was part of daily life and needed to be resolved in the order of the day, without any drama. In truth, being a part of the network meant knowing how to deal with these kinds of situations \u2018almost naturally.\u2019<\/p>\n

I had, therefore, a scenario: a social network that I was in some way part of, or at least that\u2019s how my interlocutors saw me. Conscious of this, I needed to piece this puzzle together and understand how their reciprocal actions<\/a> translate into their own form of action, which could in many ways converge as a way of life with a perspective at the vanguard of the contemporary world. The favela\u00a0is at the forefront of the sharing economy and collective consumerism. It is an intrinsic value that should serve as an example<\/a> for many societies. Was I seeing a response or an alternative to modern and individualistic \u2018consumerism\u2019<\/a>? My first step in responding to this question was to better understand the dynamics at play in this practice.<\/p>\n

In fact, there is a core value behind this practice: empathy. For the residents, or \u2018favelados\u2019 as they usually refer to themselves, this value is about always being able to \u2018see yourself in the place of the other person.\u2019 This was evident during our discussions and in the explanations my interlocutors would give me. They all told me that, depending on the circumstances, they could be the one in the situation with a need for help, so they feel obliged to help, lend, or donate\u2014ways of valuing the collective over the individual. In the case of \u2018the better off\u2019 (it\u2019s a heterogeneous social network in relation to local socioeconomic positions), for example, this empathy comes from memory, helping others because they can remember a time of being without food, not being able to effectively provide for their kids, etc. In this case, \u2018life\u2019s struggle\u2019 is never forgotten and anyone seeking help serves to remind the others of their own similar problems at some stage. Today\u2019s problems, experienced by someone else, remind the others of their own experience and this motivates them to act because they know and understand how it feels and what role surrounding society should play.<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember one time a lady (a woman of about 45 years of age) was going to the graduation ceremony of her daughter. She was anxious and worried. She was a domestic worker and the reason for her anxiety was that she didn\u2019t have time to get her hair done or get made up for this special occasion. She came by the Association and told me in such a dramatic tone that she couldn\u2019t see her daughter graduate from school because she did not want her daughter to \u2018be ashamed.\u2019 Vaninha quickly sent Faf\u00e1 running to her house to grab her make-up kit and emphatically told her: \u201cOf course you are going, it\u2019s a great achievement for the both of you, you cannot miss it.\u201d Faf\u00e1 ran off down Darcy Vargas Road to get Vaninha\u2019s make-up set. Meanwhile, it gave opening to another line of inquiry between Vaninha and the lady: did she have appropriate clothing, shoes, bag, etc. Was there anything more than just the make-up that she needed, like styling her hair, etc. When the lady left the room, Vaninha turned to me and said: \u201cI know just what that\u2019s like, people feel ashamed, they don\u2019t have good clothes to throw on and go to these places because we feel ashamed of ourselves<\/a>. Imagine missing your kid\u2019s graduation, it\u2019s something you almost never have a chance to see. It\u2019s an achievement of hers too, she has to be there. What girl wouldn\u2019t want her mother at her side on that stage! It can\u2019t be like that, she has to go and we\u2019ll find a way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t follow the entirety of the story, but on another occasion I asked Vaninha what the outcome had been and she told me that the woman went to the graduation, as she should have done.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are up against attachment [to objects] and, yes, we need to reassess our values. What would you see as important if you knew that tomorrow at 19:45 you were going to die? To go running out to buy a new bag? Focus on people, focus on emotions, focus on experiences<\/a>. These things are so much more worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

*Hilaine Yaccoub holds a PhD in the Anthropology of Consumption\u00a0 <\/span>from UFF\u2013RJ), a Masters Degree in Anthropology of Consumption from UFF\u2013RJ, and a post-graduate degree in Popular Studies and Social Research from ENCE-IBGE. Her undergraduate degree is in Social Sciences from UFRJ. Independent consultant, researcher and lecturer, Hilaine is a professor at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM \u2013 Superior School for Propaganda and Marketing), Institute of European Design (IED) and Instituto Infnet (RJ). She is co-founder of the MBA in the Sciences and Strategies of Consumption at ESPM, Rio de Janeiro.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

This text was part of the her doctoral thesis \u2018Lessons from the Favela: Economies of shared goods and services in Barreira do Vasco \u2013 RJ\u2019, defended in January 2015 for the Post-Graduate program for Social Anthropology at UFF, a line of research within the Anthropology of Consumption.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas For the original article by Hilaine Yaccoub* in Portuguese published by Brasil\u00a0247 click here. Hilaine Yaccoub, PhD\u00a0in Anthropology of Consumption\u00a0at\u00a0the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), came to this conclusion after four years […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":25108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1268,1271,1282,329,1330,1365],"tags":[1361,684,219,258,1063,427,221,223,37,1403,453],"writer":[1859],"translator":[1344],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-favelaculture","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-research-analysis","10":"category-solutions","11":"category-translation","12":"category-whats-a-favela-2","13":"tag-endfavelastigma","14":"tag-barreira-do-vasco","15":"tag-collective-action","16":"tag-community-solution","17":"tag-cooperation","18":"tag-economy","19":"tag-favela-culture","20":"tag-favela-as-a-model","21":"tag-north-zone","22":"tag-solution","23":"tag-stigma","24":"writer-hilaine-yaccoub","25":"translator-cara-pears"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24985"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=24985"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=24985"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=24985"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=24985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}