{"id":29231,"date":"2016-06-16T13:07:38","date_gmt":"2016-06-16T16:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=29231"},"modified":"2017-04-19T11:22:11","modified_gmt":"2017-04-19T14:22:11","slug":"favelados-around-the-world-project-challenges-links-between-social-class-and-travel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=29231","title":{"rendered":"‘Favelados Around the World’ Channel Challenges Links Between Social Class and Travel [VIDEO]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\u201cFavelados<\/em> around the world is culture, too,\u201d grins comedian Marcelo Magano<\/a>, standing in a sunlit street in Bogot\u00e1, Colombia. Behind him is the Jorge Eli\u00e9cer Gait\u00e1n Theater, known for its wide-ranging displays of culture including full seasons of opera and traditional zarzuela performances plus international theater, music and dance festivals. Built in 1890, the theater is only a few years older than\u00a0Rio\u2019s oldest favelas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In February 2016 Magano, a resident of City of God<\/a> in the West Zone<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro, launched the\u00a0YouTube series \u2018Favelados Around the World.\u2019<\/a>\u00a0He describes the project as \u201cnothing more than a modern favela resident saving for a year to travel.\u201d The series consists of 5-minute episodes of Magano and blog posts from his friends from other favelas exploring cities abroad, providing comedy-infused travel advice \u201cby favelados<\/em> for favelados<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Marcelo<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWho says the poor don\u2019t travel<\/a>?\u201d writes Magano in the series’ inaugural blog post<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s because the middle class is rising or because the rich are in crisis, but the truth is that the poor also travel and spend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magano\u2019s pursuit of travel extends the territory of contemporary debates about participation in popular culture<\/a>,\u00a0politics<\/a> and the right to public space<\/a>. Often framed as a case of economic feasibility, debates around who should participate in travel\u00a0play off stereotypes<\/a> that favela residents are too poor<\/a> to travel, it would be financially irresponsible for them to do so, or that they cannot partake of “high culture.” International travel, and air travel in particular, have been framed in the recent past as something belonging exclusively to Brazil\u2019s elite social tiers. In 2012, Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/em> published an opinion piece from writer Danuza Le\u00e3o<\/a> lamenting that travel loses its allure \u201cif your doorman can go as well.”<\/p>\n

More recently, in 2014 a professor at Rio’s Pontifical Catholic University (PUC), posted a photo of a fellow passenger<\/a> at Rio\u2019s Santos Dumont\u00a0airport to Facebook with the caption, \u201cAirport or bus station?\u201d The photo triggered\u00a0hundreds of shares, largely\u00a0due to comments from other university professors that the passenger depicted \u201clooked more like a stowaway,\u201d that air travel is now \u201cseriously lacking in glamor\u201d and that \u201cthis is the type of passenger who\u2013clearly\u2013doesn\u2019t respect (or doesn\u2019t fit) in their own seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PUC<\/a><\/p>\n

In the Favelados Around the World<\/a> project, Magano uses his unique brand of comedy to challenge notions that travel is reserved for certain economic or social classes. His narrations of his first trips to Bogot\u00e1, Cartagena and San Andr\u00e9s in Colombia poke fun at middle and upper classes as well as working classes and fellow favela residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaughter is revolutionary,\u201d he explains. \u201cLaughter is my most powerful and clearest weapon of expression. I like to play with the stereotypes given to the favelas, the idea that you\u2019re \u2018poor even when you have money because you spend it on frivolities.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s always this idea of the ostentatious<\/a> dude who spends money on drinking, on women and expensive clothes, and that this is the only type of favelado<\/em>\u00a0that exists. Yes, I am bragging about traveling in the same way that many favela\u00a0residents\u00a0brag to show off what they have. But I\u2019m doing this to show that we were always more than that stereotype.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Magano, travel isn\u2019t about showing off or about leisure; instead, he believes that each journey is about learning, experience and cultural exchanges that enable personal transformation. He says he is surprised by the series\u2019 impact, with more and more of his peers expressing interest in following in his footsteps. \u201cFavelados Around the World is a culture,\u201d he reaffirms, \u201cit\u2019s about more than just leisure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTraveling should be a basic right for every human being,\u201d he said. \u201cFavelados Pelo Mundo is a manifesto: we want to see poor black youths traveling around, exchanging, sharing, learning and teaching with others.\u201d<\/p>\n

\""There<\/a>
“There are favela residents traveling abroad!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Favelados Around the World has extended beyond South America, with Magano\u2019s peers traveling in the USA and Europe. Activist and writer Thain\u00e3 de Medeiros<\/a> wrote about his trip to Holland for Favelados Around the World, which he described as the \u201cfirst vacation of my life\u201d<\/a> and an \u201cachievement for someone of my background to even set foot in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isabela, a French language teacher from Bras\u00edlia, wrote a guest post<\/a> for the series blog after her 20-day trip through Lisbon, Brussels, Amsterdam, Paris and Dijon. \u201cFavelados Around the World is the most beautiful thing,\u201d she wrote, \u201cbecause it shows people, people like us, that you don\u2019t have to be born with a silver spoon to see the world, nor are we limited by where we are born.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community journalist and activist Raull Santiago<\/a> voiced his support for Favelados Around the World after his recent trip to New York City with D\u00e9bora Maria da Silva, founder of the\u00a0M\u00e3es de Maio Movement<\/a>\u00a0of mothers who’ve lost children to police violence. Both were speaking at an Amnesty International event<\/a>\u00a0on human rights and police violence in the favelas. Santiago and Medeiros\u2019 fellow Coletivo Papo Reto<\/a> activist Renata Trajano also recently visited Baltimore, after which Santiago shared the above photo on Facebook<\/a>, endorsing Magano\u2019s series. Santiago\u2019s ecstatic caption reads, \u201cJust so you know: the favela is traveling abroad!\u201d and was met with equal enthusiasm in the comments.<\/p>\n

Magano is expanding the program, with four competition winners who will travel and blog to be\u00a0announced at the end of 2016. And Magano has no plans to stop traveling himself, with\u00a0plans for his own next journeys are already in place. He plans to travel\u00a0through Central America, in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica. He finishes our exchange with another chuckle, \u201cOstentatious, no?\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out Episode 1:<\/h3>\n