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Wageningen University & Research Centre – Department of Social Sciences – Sociology and Anthropology of Development and Change The Politics of the Nobodies Theorizing Slum Politics through a Political Ethnography of a community leader in Coque, Recife Major thesis written by Sven da Silva as part of his Research Master in International Development Studies. Date: August, 2015 Supervisor: dr.ir. Pieter A. de Vries Second reader: dr. Elisabet D. Rasch Student number: 900816-762-040 Thesis code: SDC-80436 To Jessica, Jucelia, and Suzanne who all knew that I was full of saudade [yearning] and amor [love] i Porque a sua ira dura só um momento; no seu favor está a vida. O choro pode durar uma noite, mas a alegria vem pela manhã. ____Salmos 30:5 Written on wooden board next to the door in house of residence during fieldwork For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. __Psalm 30:5 New International Version ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “VOCÊS SOM PRA TORAR!” IV LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES VI GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS VII GLOSSARY VIII SUMMARY XII WHO IS WHO IN COQUE? 1 CHAPTER I: RETHINKING SLUM POLITICS THE NEED FOR POLITICAL ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH IN SLUMS 3 CHAPTER II: THE CITY OF CONTRASTS AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE COMUNIDADE SOCIO-SPATIAL DIFFERENTIATION WITHIN COQUE 15 CHAPTER III: COQUE’S COMMUNITY LEADERS AND THEIR POLITICS ON THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF SLUM POLITICS 30 CHAPTER IV: WHERE IS THE HOPE? ON BULL SESSIONS AND THE SEXUALISATION OF POWER 40 CHAPTER V: “ADERBAL IS THE BEST!” FORMING AN INNER CIRCLE AND POWER BASE 49 CHAPTER VI: TRAJECTORIES & STYLES THE ‘PELEGO’ AND THE ‘PARTIDISTA’ WOULD LIKE TO SEE COQUE SKATE 59 CHAPTER VII: POLITICIANS, BEER AND HUGS WHEN POLITICIANS ENTER COQUE IN TIMES OF ELECTIONS 68 CHAPTER VIII: “RECIFE WILL BE A SECOND DUBAI” ADERBAL AND THE NOVO RECIFE PROJECT 73 CHAPTER IX: MEANWHILE IN THE HOUSE THE MATA AND CASA AS SYMBOLIC FOR SLUM POLITICS 83 CHAPTER X: A POLITICS OF THE NOBODIES SLUM POLITICS AS A POLITICS THAT TAKES PLACE IN AND AROUND THE ‘MATA’ 88 REFERENCES 95 ENDNOTES 98 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “Vocês som pra torar!”1 ___________________________________________________________________________ “Tchau Iesfeng [my name in Portuguese], Tchau” said Emanuel. We just got out of the car at the airport. I laughed and said “Wait Emanuel, wait, I am not leaving yet”. “Wait Emanuel” Jessica, his mother, repeated while somewhat imitating my Portuguese. “Emanuel was shaking when he saw the airplane”, his father Claudio said. I guess he was a bit afraid that I would take him, the four year old, with me, as people in Coque where often joking that I would take him with me. “He [me] is already crying”, said Jessica to the others a bit later. “No I am not!” I replied, trying to keep myself cool. I was keeping inside what I was thinking and feeling, and at the same time, I was nervous whether everything would go well at the airport, since I had no copy of the new ticket of my postponed flight. Although this thesis is not yet finished, I believe this is the best moment to start writing the acknowledgements since I can now, sitting in the airplane, write and express myself from the heart. I am thinking about the people I am leaving behind me; the good and bad moments. Thankful for some moments and people I could meet, but also still in a shock of this ‘traumatic encounter with ‘The Other’’ as philosopher Žižek would say. It is complicado [complicated]. In two months, I have seen a lot and gotten enrolado [entangled] in slum politics. Perhaps this was the right time to leave. I started thinking back at the moment Emanuel said goodbye, because I was trying to laugh a bit. The tears just started to get out of my eyes at a moment I did not expect them to come; in the tunnel towards the plane. I did not expect to see Aderbal – the grandfather of Emanuel and the main character of the novela that this thesis was – crying when saying goodbye. By doing this – laughing in difficult moments – I was doing something I had learned during my stay at the house of Coque’s líder comunitário. The Santa Cruz Futebol Clube shirt I am wearing – a present from Aderbal – and Havaianas slippers in my luggage – a present from Jessica, which jokingly made me a “real Brazilian” – I now suddenly realized, are symbols; I am taking their stories with me. These stories are now also my stories to tell you the reader of this report. Having lived for two months in Coque, I am feeling uncomfortable in this plane full of middleclass and rich people with Germany shirts complaining about the World Cup organisation. Between these people, I feel like a mixed Coqueiro [someone from Coque]. I was – and most probably will stay – enrolado there. As someone from the Comunidade Interdisciplinar de Ação Pesquisa e Aprendizagem [CIAPA] in which I participated said, “you are now Sven from Coque”. If I could not live for two months in the house and street of Aderbal, I could also not experience living in Coque while conducting fieldwork. However, it all started, and I could never have experienced this, if it was not for my girlfriend Suzanne. She supported me in my study and dreams, in preparation for the journey towards Brazil, and in most difficult times during my fieldwork. I value a lot the relation I have with Suzanne and I am very thankful she became my neighbour when living in Wageningen. Next I want to thank community leader Aderbal, who told me a lot about his live and politics during the shared consumption of a litre of Skol beer, which would then become more and more litres. It was Aderbal and his “doida mais legal [crazy but nice]” family members, who put the door open for me to stay for two months with them. Although I will probably never really iv understand him and the things he does I thank him for showing so much of his live to me. He brought me with his car to different places while telling about his work. He showed a lot about how politics in the community works, often untiringly repeating such that I could better understand. It was his wife, Jucelia, whom I have also to thank a lot for many things. She made sure that I had a bariga chea [a full stomach] every day, washed my clothes (while that was not necessary), and she showed me the role of religion in the lives of poor people. Through her, I witnessed how women organise their livelihood. She made sure that I was always safe and took care of me as if I was a son of her. In addition, I have to thank Jessica for many nice moments. While making pizzas, she told me more about religion and her personal perspectives on a number of issues; issues their family daily face in Coque. Each time I helped her to make pizzas I have gotten to know her, and life in Coque, better. Although he probably cannot read this, it was cool playing football with Emanuel, my amiguinho [little friend]. At times, he made me feel a child again. Although it was often him who wanted to play, I have to thank him for the time of joga [playing] “bola” [football], “piqui esconde” [hide and seek], “pego-pego” [play tag], and for all the times we sang the song about the butterfly who was making chocolate [borboletinha ta na cuzinha, fazendo chocolate, amaradinha, potchi potchi etc.]. I think Claudio, his father can be proud of his son. I have to thank Claudio for showing me the market at Afogados [the Drowned], for explaining some crucial slang words, and for a number of chats we had. I thank Nino for taking me to the futsal to hear all the palavrãos [cursing] and relax at the same time. I want to thank Anderson and Daniela [Dédé] for having us [the gringos] at their place to watch the unexpected chocolate [whip] Brazil got from Germany; an example of the hospitality I noticed while staying there. Furthermore, I have to thank Luis de la Mora. If it was not for him I would have slept in another place, maybe by myself, and this would not have provided me the facilities to study the things I find interesting. He passionately told me a lot about the PREZEIS, the history of popular mobilization, and many other topics. I want to thank everyone else of the CIAPA, especially Karine, Daniella and Cynthia, for their support and the exchange of ideas. I want to thank Rildo for showing me the Ponto di Cultura, and for the group interview that he gave to us [the students of CIAPA] together with Matuto. They both told passionately about their work, the problems they face and their plans for the future. I thank Pieter de Vries for being a pleasant supervisor. He never told me what I should do, only what I may do, providing me with the freedom to write about my own interests. Although in this way it stays difficult to focus on a specific thing, I am thankful that he gave me the idea that this was my thesis and no one else’s. Likewise, I thank Elisabet Rasch for functioning as second reader, and as such, going through the many pages of this thesis. Furthermore, I want to thank Ton Eijmberts for his enthusiasm about this project.

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