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Kashyap Sushmita

Master MITRA Parcours 1

18 June 2014

Mapping their City: Youth in Affective Spaces

Abstract/Prologue:

This study uses perspectives from human geography, cultural and visual studies to provide amultilayered analysis of young people residing in primarily working place neighbourhoods ( fave as) ofRio de Janeiro. As its central theoretical focus, the study draws from theories related to space and

place, and an interest in alternative media practices engaging with affect, emotion and spatial relations.Tentatively entitled, Mappin! their "ity# $outh in Affective Spaces% this work in progress is a steptowards an entr&e into a better understanding of the overlapping roles played by differential spaces,

medias and affective mappings as representational tropes of popular urban neighbourhoods. !t isimportant to highlight that the focus of this study is the fave a youth with some education, and trainingin community media reporting, working on aspects related to fave as and peripheries .

Introduction:

Recent years have witnessed a profound metamorphosis in "ra#ilian society, especially in(tourist) cities like Rio de Janeiro $ with their rapid urbani#ation. The hyper mediated bid ofthe civic authorities to transform Rio into a world class city ahead of the %!%A &orld 'up thissummer (June $ , $*) and the +lympic ames in $- has affected the lives of itsresidents, especially the impressionist youth from the peripheries and defavourisedneighbourhoods, who find their evolving identities mirrored in this transforming city. y

paper attempts to record the contours of a new spatial cultural studies through the narrativesof fave a youth engaged in alternative media, through their spatial mappings and affectiveengagements with forms of alternative media (primarily focusing on community media) inthis liminal moment of urban transformation.

!t is no debate that there is a certain amount of stigma related to mainstream mediarepresentations of fave as as dens of violence, crime, drugs and the suspicious. /erceptionsfrom outside the fave as often typecast the young fave a'o in a popular mysterious image ofmusic loving vagabonds involved in petty thefts, resistant towards civic authorities.0owever, in the process, these stereotyped narratives have successfully managed in otherin! the fave a youth, giving her a sense of being a second class citi#en in her own city,accentuating the need to address herself vis 1 vis her neighbourhood and community. +n theother hand, lesser visibility is accorded to media reports with a focus on the everyday realitiesof home, school, work opportunities faced by these youth2 their dreams affected in not soaccessible (or, ordinary) neighbourhoods, comprising of fragile communities compelled bysimultaneous globalising forces of the economy and processes of marginalisation ande3clusion. According to Jailson de 4ou#a e 4ilva 5,

6The popu ation of 1()to)24)year)o 's in Rio 'e Janeiro*s metropo itan area is on the or'er of 1+81 %or practical purposes, Rio de Janeiro will be henceforth referred to as Rio.2 usic, mostly of the fun, variety. -un, is a genre of music that traces its history to the fave as of Rio.5 7e 4ou#a e 4ilva, J. 68ife and 4urvival in Rio9s fave as: , Re'e Socia 'e Justi.a e /ireitos umanos (4ocialnetwork of ;ustice and human rights), $5. httpR8accessed< $ 4eptember $5. Jailson de 4ou#a e 4ilva is a geographer and co founder of servatorio 'e

-ave as% born in one of Rio?s biggest favela agglomerates % "omp e3o 'a Mar&+

http://www.social.org.br/relatorio2003ingles/relatorio024.htmhttp://www.social.org.br/relatorio2003ingles/relatorio024.htmhttp://www.social.org.br/relatorio2003ingles/relatorio024.htm

8/12/2019 SKashyap June 18 2014 Paper

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mi ion+ Accor'in! to 1 'ata from the 5ationa ousin! an' Popu ation Statistics Research% 684thousan' 7 89: have not comp ete' primary schoo in!+ n the other han'% 216 thousan' 7129: haveat east finishe' hi!h schoo + As far as the ;o mar,et is concerne'% shantyto=ns: sho= that 629 of youn! peop e have not comp ete' primary schoo in!? are y19 have finishe' hi!h schoo ? (19 have ;o s or are oo,in! for =or,% an' the unemp oyment rate is18+69+@

Part I. Context

+ne of the initial ideas behind this research was the aspiration for the creation of venuesforthe presentation of distinct, oft e3cluded, and @ualitative viewpoints on the city. Theob;ectives ! pursue as part of this approach are many. !nitially, it started out as a pro;ect tounderstand the urban transformations happening around the world, taking the specific case ofRio de Janeiro. Rio is a dynamic case study as we see various aspects of this citytransformation taking place in view of the %ootball &orld 'up $* and the +lympics $-.+n investigating further afield, my interrogations shifted from the public sphere itself, to the

popular neighbourhoods, in an attempt to present the narratives emanating from these precarious, often misunderstood communities. 4econdly, following theoretical readings, adesire was felt to understand the transformation of space beyond binary concepts like center

periphery, aspha t fave a, power resistance, secure insecure, black white, etc.

ntering these neighbourhoods with the lens of alternative media, ! situate myself in the fave as, and my point of view towards the city finds its departure points from thismethodological angle. The central ob;ective of my study is to understand the spatiallyembedded emotional geographies in these informal cities e3isting within the formal city ofRio de Janeiro, as also to understand contours of self representations by the popular resident( fave a'o ), taking the case of the alternative media youth reporter (comprising of community

media correspondents). !t is important to mention here that my investigations look at youthfrom these defavourised neighbourhoods who have a certain degree of education as my

pursuit in the nglish academic press did not yield any substantial material on educated youthfrom the fave as, their urban itineraries and their narratives.

Part II. heoritical !ra"e#or$

Botions of Cspace?, Cplace? and Clandscape? are no longer the e3clusive domain ofgeographers, but have been appropriated by anthropologists, scholars of philosophy, historyand culture (cf. de 'erteau, %oucault, 0arvey, 'rang, Anderson, 4assen, 4pivak, Bayak,"habha, 4o;a, 'astells, et a )*. !n trying to link up aspects of spatiality and representations, !consulted a variety of literature and authors, and my investigations draw e3tensively upontheoretical, conceptual and methodological insights deriving from, in particular, criticalcultural studies, cultural geography as well as media studies. "roadly ! consulted the te3ts ofthese authors to accentuate and broaden my perspective on these issuesniversity /ress.7eleu#e, illes ($EE*) 7ifference and Repetition, trans. by /aul /atton. 8ondon< Athlone.8efebvre, 0enri ($E *=$EE$). The Pro'uction of Space . "lackwell /ublishers.

8efebvre, 0enri ($EE = *) Rhythmana ysis# Space% Time an' Bvery'ay Cife% 4eries< Athlone'ontemporary uropean Thinkers. /ublication 7ate of %rench original< $EE .

Bayak, Anoop ( *) Race% P ace an' L o a i ation# $outh "u tures in a "han!in! Nor ' . 8ondon nderstanding Representation, 8ondon< 4age /ublications.

http://www.fabula.org/actualites/article17922.phphttp://www.fabula.org/actualites/article17922.php