Favela or Comunidade: The Choice of Collective Memory

Brazilian society actively engages with two concepts laden with memories of a shared past that shape its present: favela and comunidade. These two concepts embody the dark and light side of Brazilian slums, which were formed on the ruins of the slave system and have preserved many of its specific traits. Using memory studies tolls, specifically, the theory of collective memory by the German cultural scientist Jan Assmann and the concept of memory sites by the French historian Pierre Nora, this article examines the favela as a unit of collective memory, where all the most painful experiences of Brazilian society are «encrypted»: the 1897 Canudos uprising defeat, the 1888 Golden Law and the creation of a domestic worker army in favelas, for whom a wealthy neighborhood’s kitchen became a new senzala. These are memories of hunger, drug trafficking, and criminal wars. The Favelas symbolize an eternal threat to the civilized «city of asphalt». However, the economic successes of the early 21st century sparked a growing demand in society for a new narrative. Many politicians and intellectuals viewed integrating slum dwellers into consumer culture as a sufficient condition for social integration, which allowed them to «abolish» the favelas excluding them from the Brazilian Institute of official terminology. Public discourse replaced it with comunidade, a concept designed to protect vulnerable groups from verbal stigmatization and highlight the vibrant, exotic, and distinctive aspects of the folksy, syncretic culture that emerged from the favelas as a form of existence. This article explores the conflict between these narratives surrounding Brazilian slums and its impact on public discourse at various levels, from the terminology of social surveys and academic research to blog discussions and traditional media.

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