1. This book is about power relations and how they are experienced by the poor.
2. Donna Goldstein
2.1. Gloria (black mother)
2.1.1. Lives in Felicidade Eterna
2.1.1.1. Has a dirt-floored, leaky, unstable, ten by fifteen foot shack with a minuscule kitchen and small bathroom.
2.1.1.2. People of this culture use "Black humor" where they often laugh when discussing uncomfortable and painful topics such as rape, death, etc.
2.1.2. -Feels as she wants to escape the responsibulity of supportig so many kids
2.1.2.1. Own kids
2.1.2.1.1. Soneca (youngest daughter)
2.1.2.1.2. Felix (son)
2.1.2.1.3. Filomena (daughter)
2.1.2.1.4. Anita
2.1.2.1.5. Zeca (son)
2.1.2.1.6. Tiago
2.1.2.1.7. Took in her sister Celina's kids who died in 1985)
2.1.3. Started working for Dona Beth
2.1.3.1. Upset that her daughter wants more independence
2.1.3.2. -Pays Gloria five minimum wages per month -six-day work week
2.1.3.2.1. Better than previous jobs
2.1.3.3. Social worker at Fundacao Nacional do Bem-Estar do Menor
2.1.3.3.1. Husband was a highly paid industrialist
2.1.3.4. Conscious of the importance of woman's labor
2.1.3.4.1. Flexible and did not get hot-headed about the days Gloria missed
2.1.3.5. Allowed Gloria's daughter Soneca to live in her maid quarters once becoming pregnant
2.1.3.5.1. Helped care for her and her child
2.1.4. Just one of the workers in an economy characterized by ever-increasing numbers of workers in the lowest paid sectors.
2.1.4.1. Feels there are some disadvantages to her cleaning work routine
2.1.4.1.1. Made just enough to shop in small amounts
2.2. Spent a year working with two teams of AIDS prevention and education workers analyzing the effects of the AIDS eppidemic on low income women.
2.2.1. Interviews focused on women's sexual lives and histories and on their relationships with men.
2.2.2. Once the AIDS work was completed, Goldstein began working as a traditional participant observer in Felicidade Eterna after visiter her friend Gloria's home.
3. Carnival
3.1. The main festival of Rio's poor but also takes place in other parts of Latin America.
3.1.1. Brazil however has transformed it from religious ritual to national metaphor.
3.1.1.1. "Carnival is a look glass image through which Brazilians define themselves and by which they present themselves to the world.
3.2. Four days and five nights long
3.2.1. Can serve as a conservative ritual that reinforce class positions and gender and sexual hierarchies.
3.2.1.1. Can be argued that that Carnival may reinforce the dominant social structure
4. Rio
4.1. Dramatic increasing of feminization on the worforce
4.1.1. Also growing participation of children in the economy
4.2. Migration to the city is a large factor in Rio's growth.
4.3. "The Killing Streets"
4.3.1. Teresa Caldiera- Social segregation and the construction of a "city walls"
4.3.1.1. Brazil's major cities had to be moved behind walls to protect them from what they perceive as the growing violence on the streets
4.4. One of the most unequal cities in the world
4.4.1. Middle and upper classes have little exposure to the kind of violence experienced by the poorest
4.5. Favelas
4.5.1. Also known as shantytowns.
4.5.1.1. Felicidade Eterna
4.5.1.2. Largely non literate, urban, historically oppressed population.
4.5.1.3. Residents feel largely divorced from "outside" fources.
4.5.2. Gangs here intervene in family and lovers' feuds, mediate relations with local police, & keep other gangs from invading or using Felicidade Eterna as a drug-selling site.
4.5.2.1. Residents feel ambivalent about the local gang but also recognize the importance.
4.5.3. Relationship between residents & police produce a structure of regular violence
4.5.3.1. Practically unknown to the middle and upper class citizens
4.5.3.1.1. Complex, Ambivalent, and ambiguous relationship
5. Brazil
5.1. Brazil race relations
5.1.1. No legally sanctioned racism, but it exists
5.1.1.1. often conveyed through indirect forms of communication
5.1.1.1.1. Talking about race is seen as impolite and shameful.
5.1.2. Evaluate race according to appearance.
5.1.2.1. Afro-Brazillians are wary of showing their "blackness"
5.1.2.1.1. Due to the fact it was and still is associated with slavery, dirty work, and ugliness.
5.1.2.1.2. Black or African characteristics (kinky hair, flat noses) are considered ugly.
5.1.2.2. The lighter skinned are said to have a better chance of succeeding in life
5.2. Domestic worker-employer relationship
5.2.1. The extremities of the class divide are exhibited and performed
5.2.1.1. Racial dimension is always present
5.2.1.2. Domestic worker is symbolically associated with the dirty work to be done in household
5.2.2. Worker is often fondly venerated, cherished and appreciated.
5.3. Brazilian class relations
5.3.1. Middle Class
5.3.1.1. Defined by ability to pay someone else to do the manual labor
5.3.1.1.1. Fear slipping into the pool of the population that must supply manual labor to others.
5.3.1.1.2. Employing a domestic worker is perceived as a necessity.
5.3.1.2. An ambiguous position
5.3.1.2.1. Supposed to make things happen economically and politically within the country
5.3.1.3. Household typically divided into 3 parts
5.3.1.3.1. Social area, intimate area, and service area
5.3.1.4. Experience class appropriate forms of adolescent rebellion: drugs, sex, alcohol
5.3.2. Elite Class
5.3.2.1. Have servents as a class marker
5.3.2.2. Not obsessed with the fear of slipping into the classes that must provide manual labor to others
5.3.2.2.1. Shun manual labor of all kinds
5.3.2.3. Experience class appropriate forms of adolescent rebellion: drugs, sex, alcohol
5.3.3. Working Poor
5.3.3.1. Many young males resort to joining gangs.
5.3.3.1.1. Young men growing up in poor Rio neighborhoods have an extremely high mortality rate
5.3.3.2. Say the easiest way for social mobility is to marry a coroa (older, rich, white man)
5.3.3.3. Children of the poor are not treated as children except at the youngest ages
5.3.3.3.1. Enter the labor force often before it is legal
5.3.3.3.2. Learn what it means to work for low wages
6. Drugs
6.1. Middle and elite drug consumption and the international drug trade ultimately fuel gang activity.
6.2. Drug consumption among poor is perceived and practiced differently than the middle and upper classes.
6.2.1. For the poorest, all drugs are viewed as problematic.
6.2.1.1. Typically signals a connection to the local gang & drug traffickers
6.2.2. Upper and middle class look at drugs as recreational and have bohemian meanings.
6.3. In favelas such as Felicidade Eterna, drug chiefs are important local figures.
6.3.1. The are often home grown, locally based, well known, and provide badly needed services such as housing, cash, and employment for youths
7. Gangs
7.1. For young men, offers a place of belonging and a sense of identity - one that the low paying service sector employment does not provide
7.1.1. A seduction to some, but a nuisance for other young men who have to stay out of their business
7.1.2. Offer a space within which an ethos of masculinity can be enacted.
7.1.2.1. In Felicidade Eterna, upon joining a gang, a member is given a gun of his own
7.2. The presence of gangs in the favelas has provided legal and moral justification for the goverment's use of excessive force.
7.2.1. Gangs play a major role in providing a form of justice
7.2.1.1. Residents in brown zones depend on gangs to provide an alternative rule of law but also to fill in wherever the state is absent.
7.2.1.1.1. Serve as protectors from outside gangs, & as mediators in face of violent & corrupt police force.