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This article describes the context of emergence of the Social Clinic of the Institute of Complexity Studies (Instituto de Estudos da Complexidade, IEC) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and presents the purposes and principles of the Clinic. Defined as an anti-utilitarian space, the IEC offers psychoanalysis to the economically disadvantaged. The IEC also offers elements of psychoanalytic training to disadvantaged professionals. We discuss some of the institutional processes and mechanisms of IEC, which have resulted from a collective engagement of over two decades. We also explore some important resonances between psychoanalysis and complexity thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

They live in Jardim Ana Clara, in the city of Duque de Caxias, which is part of the Rio metropolitan area, and we were waiting for them at Cinelândia, in downtown Rio, around 26 miles away from their homes. PHOTO (COLOR) Coming from a poor Black family in Brazil, I do not have many photos of family. The final photos, showing Laryssa touching the water, summarize the whole experience of trespassing historical exclusion in a very segregated I and i Black city like Rio de Janeiro. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Revista de Arqueologia is the property of Revista de Arqueologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Children and youth are typically positioned as passive subjects in learning, and when talking about working class children in particular, the common belief is that attendance at school institutions will translate into social displacement; that is, that children and young people from this economic segment who invest in the study will be able rise economically. It is in this context that recent public policies aimed at maintaining and extending the presence of children and young people in educational institutions can be understood. Some of these policies aim to guarantee access by blacks and the poor to higher education, from which they have been historically excluded. This paper reports on a qualitative study that addresses the motivations that make young people from lower classes feel called to seek participation in higher education, and what are the subjective consequences of this movement. The study focused on 23 university students, beneficiaries of the Quota Law or the University for All Program, from two recognized quality higher education institutions located in Rio de Janeiro. The results demonstrate that the support of family and peers, a passion for studying per se, identification with the university as a life path, and the expectation of upward social mobility were factors that contributed to motivating young people toward higher education. As far as the university is concerned, we found that it delivers contradictory messages to young people from the lower classes. For one, entering an institution historically destined for another social class can make young people feel that they don't belong there, which promotes uncertainties about the future. Faced with these challenges, poor young people are driven to "bet on themselves" as a way of overcoming the hardships of the present. However, it was also observed that many of these young people want to use their knowledge and university status to bring about changes in reality. It is concluded that the university in the neoliberal context can reinforce a model of individualistic subjectivation, but that, on the other hand, it can also operate to open lines of escape from this model, in instrumentalizing the poor young person for action towards the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing a vast catalog of sources, the author explores the racialization of Rio's poor people, their spatial arrangements, and practices. In Chapter 3, the author brings back the life experiences and social, cultural, and spatial practices of Castelo's residents. Lorraine Leu's book is about urban reform and modernization as a tool of social and racial engineering in the making of a Brazilian national identity in the first decades of twentieth-century Rio de Janeiro. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyses the discourse on favelas produced by Brazilian society and consumed in the political field of local administration. The ideological conception of favelas (slums) determines the creation of public policies that reinforce the prejudicial notion of favelas. This work employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) to analyse several texts extracted from mass-media stories and press releases of the Rio government. It shows that the state of praxis reproduces the understanding of slums as a phenomenon detached from the rest of society. This alienated vision impacts on different utterances blaming the poor (analysis 1); perpetuating poverty (analysis 2); and reinforcing exclusion (analysis 3). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• Spatial extent alters the assement of environmental justice. • In metropolitan areas and municipalities the most vulnerable to hazards are minority groups. • At the borough scale there are well-to-do white people exposed to hazards (especially flooding) • Elite self-exposure to risk is supported by spatially unjust distribution of infrastructures. Although environmental justice scholars have been addressing spatial scale for at least thirty years, one of its components remains largely overlooked, namely extent. In this paper, we investigate the effects of extent variation in environmental (in)justice patterns by analyzing the statistical associations between socio-economic marginality and environmental vulnerability at three different spatial scopes: metropolitan areas, municipalities, and boroughs. Using census and geospatial data, our case study focuses on the relations between income and color/race, on the one hand, and susceptibility to flooding and landslides, on the other, in Brazil's two largest cities (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). We constructe an integrated, census tract-level database using areal weighting interpolation combining census with susceptibility data to perform k-means multivariate clustering analysis. Although our results show that the most vulnerable to landslides and flooding are non-white, low-income people – confirming common environmental justice claims – they also suggest that spatial extent impinges on statistical patterns. While the clusters are very similar in the metropolitan and municipal scales, pointing to a fractal-like structure, they differ significantly at the borough scale. This smaller scale reveals a different picture, one in which well-to-do white people are just as exposed to hazards (especially flooding) as non-white, middle- to lower-middle-class people. We argue this is a result of elite self-exposure to risk, which is supported by socio-spatially unjust distribution of risk-mitigation infrastructures. Policymakers should pay attention to such scale-dependent complexities in devising ways to cope with the increasing inequities brought about by climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study objective was to analyse the association between food insecurity and the weight and height status of adolescents from a low-income area in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The population-based cross-sectional survey included 523 adolescents aged 12–18 years, selected by a three-stage cluster sample. Dietary intake was ascertained with a food frequency questionnaire and family food insecurity was assessed with a validated questionnaire. The analysis estimated weighted means of energy and nutrient intakes by families' socioeconomic characteristics and the association between dietary intake with overweight and stunting. The prevalence of mild family food insecurity was 36%, and 24% of the families reported moderate or severe food insecurity. Overweight prevalence was 24%, and the prevalence of stunting was 9%, with no significant differences between sex or age groups. Family food insecurity was associated with unfavourable socioeconomic characteristics, but there was no association between socioeconomic characteristics (including family food insecurity) and overweight or stunting. Moderate or severe family food insecurity was inversely associated with intake of protein and calcium. In addition, stunting was associated with low calcium and iron intake. The co-existence of family food insecurity with overweight and stunting implies a high nutritional risk for adolescents from poor areas of Rio de Janeiro. Nevertheless, the observed absence of a statistical association between family food insecurity and weight status attests to the complexity of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: This paper is an investigatory discussion on the strategies that were adopted during the aftermath of one of the most consequential natural disasters to occur in Brazil: the 2011 Disaster in the Rio de Janeiro Mountain Region. The main purpose of this discussion is to identify possible societal changes that have resulted from the adversities that characterised this event, which included, on one side, intense rain, landslides and floods, and, on the other, improper use of urban land by low income people and governmental connivance. Since early January, 2011, this multitude of tragedies is reported to have killed 910 people in 7 cities: 215 of these people remain missed. This paper is based on a field study that was developed by means of a survey with a group of experts who worked during the emergency situation and had the opportunity to participate in the recovery developments and handle efforts to avoid the repetition of such natural events’ destructive impacts. The field research for this paper was conducted in the concerned cities 365 days after the outbreak of the disaster. Research refers to the contentious hypothesis that although, undeniably, a disaster is never justified, regardless of any possible positive externalities, situations like those observed in this region should be considered not only as a matter of public policy and civil co-responsibility but also as a unique opportunity to develop strategies for significant and long-desired changes in society. The study's conclusion points to the maintenance of this hypothesis and to the necessity of considering it under further scrutiny. However, the conclusion also indicates that expertise must be developed not only so that society can better respond to emergency situations but, primarily, so that society can also strategically consider opportunities that are presented. The paper is structured formally; it begins with an introduction that describes the 2011 Disaster and the cities that were affected by it. Paper presents interviews with the local seven municipalities personnel, State of Rio de Janeiro Civil Defence workers and journalists. It closes with a discussion based on the hypothesis that is adopted here. Theoretical aspects are highlighted throughout the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Copyright of Interface - Comunicação, Saúde, Educação is the property of Fundacao UNI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Rio de Janeiro state archive's collection of entry logs for the city's central detention center, going back to the mid-nineteenth century, provides a rare glimpse into the lives of Rio's -- and Brazil's -- poor and working classes who otherwise left few written records behind. During the time when the institution maintained the entry logs, police exercised broad power to make arrests. Although relatively few detainees were ever prosecuted or even formally charged, the detention center kept detailed records of detainees' physical appearance, attire, home address, nationality, sex, affiliation, and so on, as well as information about any criminal charges. This article explores the wealth of empirical data that the entry logs provide. It also suggests how scrutinizing this type of document across time shows how record keeping itself changed, in turn affording researchers rare insight into the inner workings of modern Latin American society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ciência & Saúde Coletiva is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Pos-Graduacao em Saude Coletiva and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

After nearly 20 years of democratization, residents of Rio's favelas suffer high levels of civil and human rights abuse at the hands of both police and drug traffickers. The government is generally unable to guarantee the political order necessary to protect the rights of residents in these communities. Existing theories of democratization and advocacy networks offer little to explain how the types of endemic violence that affect poor neighborhoods in the developing world can be brought under control. Based on more than two years of participant observation and interviews in Rio de Janeiro, this article examines how democratic order can be extended to favelas. It argues that networks can link favela residents to organizations in civil society, and state actors can play a critical role in reducing violence and establishing democratic order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of macro-level political and economic changes, how do poor women and men living in Rio de Janeiro understand the idea of citizenship? Is it relevant to their daily lives? Because the poor have not reaped the rewards of macro-economic reforms and do not have confidence in the effectiveness of formal democratic participation, they have developed new ways of understanding citizenship. These have evolved in response to needs dictated by family, community, and gender relations, helping people to obtain access to the city's resources on a daily basis. Ultimately, citizenship means participation with dignity in the city's life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased risk of mortality among populations aged less than 5 years is particularly prominent in shanty town areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Populations are typically categorized as 'vulnerable' in areas where they are made vulnerable by social conditions. It is important to ascertain to what extent this increased risk of mortality can be explained by socioeconomic factors such as education, income, family structure, and region of residence. A study was conducted to investigate this question using demographic data from the Brazilian Censuses of 1991 and 2000. The case-control showed that residence in a favela and lack of maternal education played a major role as determinants of mortality at young ages. Families in which mothers were the head of the family and those with a lower median level of income were also significant determinants of child mortality.