Mega-Sporting Events, Cross-Class Movements, Civic Nationalism, National Imaginaries, National Identity
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REMAKING THE NATION FROM BELOW: MEGA-SPORTING EVENTS, CROSS-CLASS MOVEMENTS AND THE EMERGENCE OF COMPETING NATIONAL IMAGINARIES IN BRAZIL A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI‗I AT MĀNOA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE May 2020 by Hoyoon Jung Dissertation Committee: Ehito Kimura, Chairperson Petrice Flowers Myungji Yang Joy Logan Paul Chandler Keywords: Brazil, Mega-Sporting Events, Cross-Class Movements, Civic Nationalism, National Imaginaries, National Identity Acknowledgment It is my great pleasure to acknowledge the instrumental role of several individuals in the completion of PhD research. First of all, I cannot begin to express my special thanks to my patient and encouraging mentor, Ehito Kimura. I was extremely lucky to have him as my academic advisor, who has wholeheartedly supported me during my studies. His intellectual support and moral encouragement provided me a great impetus for completing my PhD studies. He has been a wonderful role model as a passionate and critical intellectual as well as an enthusiastic teacher. I also would like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee members. Petrice Flowers, Myungji Yang, Joy Logan and Paul Chandler provided critical feedback on my dissertation project. Their continued support and insightful advice greatly inspired me to develop my dissertation project. I cannot forbear from expressing my thanks to our wonderful community in the Department of Political Science at the University of Hawai‗i at Mānoa. All of the community members, including the wonderful professors and my peer collegues, helped me grow as a critical academic. Finally, I would like to express my deep appreciation to my family, who provided me with dedicated support in my studies. My lovely wife, Eunjoo Lee, has always been behind me. Although they are in South Korea, my parents, Joohwan Jung and Hwasun Kim, parents-in- law, Wontak Lee and Insook Choi, and my brother, Jiyoon Jung, have been always with me. I also cannot help mentioning the most precious people in my life, my brave boy, Inwoo, and my lovely girl, Sebin; they are my great children and teachers. I dedicate this dissertation to my family, who has sacrificed and endured difficult times for my studies. ii Abstract With the preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the forms of illegality and exceptions to institutional order multiplied, and a growing number of Brazilian citizens therefore began to question the intentions of the authorities and the consequences of these mega-events for ordinary residents. During 2013-2016, consequently, Brazil was inundated with an immense oppositional force, the vociferous social backlash, and the flood of exasperated voices against perceived injustices. Given that hosting mega-sporting events have been conventionally recognized as a powerful tool for social unity by a number of previous studies, these vibrant protests might signal the end of their taken-for-granted role as promoters of nation-building. This dissertation explores how the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil instead served as a catalyst for social and national dissension. By drawing on archival data, in-depth semi-structured expert interviews and unstructured interviews with 143 ordinary residents in five Brazilian state capitals during field research, I argue that networked cross-class coalitions that were propelled into a mode of constructive opposition decisively spurred the move toward the emergence of new, competing national imaginary—civic nationalism—based on increasingly shared values and norms of democracy, equality, justice and the rights to become full-fledged citizens. This dissertation maintains that the rise of such shared ―civic‖ values among varied groups, as a counter-narrative of conventional Brazilian national identity, destabilized the long-standing narrative of ―racial democracy‖ qua the historically deep- rooted ―ethno-cultural‖ sense of what it means to be a Brazilian. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgment…………………………………………...…………………….…………. iv Abstract………………………………………………………………………………....…… iii Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………. iv List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….……… v List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………….. vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...………………………………………………………… 1 CHAPTER 2. MEGA-SPORTING EVENTS AND REIMAGINING THE NATION: THE DYNAMICS OF NATIONAL IDENTITY…………………………………………… 35 CHAPTER 3. BUILDING THE BRAZILIAN NATION THROUGH FUTEBOL-MULATO: RACIAL DEMOCRACY, VISUAL-AURAL CAPITALISM AND THE RISE OF CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP IN TWENTIETH CENTURY BRAZIL …………..………… 60 CHAPTER 4. HOSTING NEOLIBERAL GAMES: THE WORLD CUP AND OLYMPIC STATE OF EXCEPTION AND THE NEOLIBERAL PRODUCTION OF SPACE IN BRAZIL …………………………………………………………………………………..… 87 CHAPTER 5. THE RISE OF NETWORKED CROSS-CLASS MOVEMENTS AGAINST MEGA-SPORTING EVENTS IN BRAZIL: CHALLENGING DIFFERENTIATED CITIZENSHIP AND CALLING FOR THE RIGHT TO THE CITY …………………….. 120 CHAPTER 6. REMAKING THE NATION FROM BELOW: MEGA-SPORTING EVENTS, CONTESTED RACIAL DEMOCRACY AND THE RISE OF CIVIC NATIONALISM AS A COMPETING NARRATIVE OF NATIONAL IDENTITY IN BRAZIL ………………… 166 CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION …………………………………...………………………. 201 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..……….……………………………………………………………… 223 iv List of Tables 4.1. Urban Transport Projects for the World Cup …………………………………………. 101 4.2. Cost of the World Cup Stadiums …………………………………………………..…. 102 4.3. Workers Death in the World Cup Stadium Construction Workplaces ………………... 105 5.1. Brazil‘s 2000s: Export Performances and External Account Indicators ………….….. 131 5.2. Economic Indicators in the Period 2003-2010 and 2011-2014 ………………………. 131 5.3. Economic Indicators during Economic Recession, 2014-2016 ………………………. 132 5.4. Brazilian Cities with Demonstrations on June 20, 2013 ………………………...…… 140 7.1. GDP Growth in South Africa from 2005 to 2010 …………………………………….. 211 7.2. GDP Growth in Brazil from 2011 to 2016 …………………………………...………. 212 7.3. A Comparison of South Africa and Brazil …………………………………………..... 214 v List of Figures 1.1. Five Brazilian Cities Visited for the Field Research ……………………………...…… 26 4.1. The BRT TransCarioca Project for the 2016 Olympics …………………………….…112 5.1. Average Annual Change of Real GDP per Capita ……………………………………. 130 5.2. Approval Ratings of Dilma Rousseff, 2011-2016 …………………………………..... 137 6.1. Most Say Hosting World Cup is bad for Brazil, 2014 ………………………………... 169 6.2. Graffiti Painted in São Paulo, May 23, 2014 ………………………………………… 190 6.3. Protester Placard …………………………………………………………………….... 193 6.4. Brazilian Protester‘s Placard ………………………………………………………..... 195 6.5. Homicides in Brazil, 2005-2015 …………………………………………………...… 196 vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ―It doesn‘t make sense to be the soccer country if there‘s no health and education!‖ Media reports of millions of Brazilian citizens taking to the streets to oppose the two global sporting events, the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, that were supposed to be held in their country, shocked people around the world. No one would have imagined that Brazilian citizens would protest against the World Cup in Brazil, which is known to the world as the ―country of football.‖ The strikingly satirical message that begins this dissertation became increasingly popular when protesters‘ placards were broadcast, as waves of nationwide demonstrations occurred. The message conveyed the overwhelming antipathy of a large portion of Brazilian society to the events. Such an immense oppositional force, the vociferous social backlash, and the flood of exasperated voices against mega- sporting events from 2013 to 2016 were truly atypical in terms of their volume, intensity and continuity as well as their distinct characteristic of cross-class solidarity between Brazil‘s lower and middle classes. Given that mega-sporting events have been conventionally recognized as a powerful tool for social unity, these vibrant protests might signal the end of their taken-for-granted role as promoters of nation-building. Sports, as a phenomenon of popular culture in Brazil, and in particular football, have always been associated with politics and with possible political abuse (DaMatta 1991). With the preparations for the World Cup and the Olympic Games, the forms of illegality and exceptions to institutional order multiplied, and a growing number of Brazilian citizens began to question the intentions of the authorities and the consequences of these ―neoliberal‖ games for ordinary residents. Consequently, Brazil was inundated with a series of large and small 1 demonstrations between June 2013 and 2016 in several of the host cities. The outpouring of dissent against these events in Brazil was sparked by the Brazilian government‘s top-down, undemocratic policies and practices in the event-preparation stages. For instance, public expenditure on infrastructure increased sharply at the expense of social welfare and public services. Various human rights violations were committed, and people were forcibly evicted from slums in the name of urban beautification. People not only reacted with contempt at the corrupt political elites who exploited these mega-events for their private profits, but they also revolted against a wide variety of perceived injustices around these mega-events. Countless intense anti-World Cup movements occurred throughout Brazil in almost every host city between June 2013 and July 2014. According to the Guardian (Jul. 4, 2013), over a million Brazilians