Spaces of negotiation: Community, governance, and pacification in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil’s enactment of the pacification program in 2008 marked the state’s ostensible attempt to integrate the informal favelas of Rio de Janeiro into the formal frameworks of the city. For residents of favelas where the pacification program has been implemented, the processes associated with the program have been marked by violence, uncertainty, and disconnection. This thesis employs spatial theory in combination with ethnographic research to explore how pacification has come to be experienced in the favela of Vidigal. The materiality of space has become a critical nexus in the dialectical relationship between community residents and the Brazilian state. I argue that the pacification program in Vidigal is now primarily a spatial practice; the policies and practices associated with pacification in Vidigal seek to manipulate the use of space, and the residents of Vidigal now largely experience the effects of pacification through the spaces of their community.