In the city of Rio de Janeiro, at the end of the 19th century, the favelas of Brazil appeared. Currently, in Rio de Janeiro, there are more than 760 slums. In this work, as a central question, the inherent contradictions in the naming of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro are approached, from the pioneer formations to the current days. Our general objective is to explain such contradictions and the specific objectives are: to unveil the value judgments that depreciate the favelas through their own names and to analyze the emptying of the meaning of the names of some favelas as a result of the dynamics of structural violence experienced in the carioca metropolis. Stigmas linked to dangerousness, homogeneity, ugliness and dirtiness are linked to the favelas and transferred to their residents, who are then considered dangerous, ugly, dirty and undifferentiated citizens. Our second appreciation is about the loss of meaning of the names of several favelas due to the urban violence that historically reshapes the political and social geographies of Rio de Janeiro. This loss of meaning is equivalent to an emptying of the names of the favelas that no longer translate the environmental structures nor the social contents found there. Thus, a critical analysis of the toponymy of Rio’s favelas becomes imperative, aiming at unraveling the contradictions that inform the circumstances under which the residents of these places undergo daily, as well as pointing out subsidies for the formulation of inclusive public policies that subvert the perverse course driven by such contradictions. In addition to the geo-historical resource of recovering the names of favelas that emerged in the first half of the 20th century, we undertook an analysis based on the lyrics of the song “O Nome das Favelas” (The Name of the Slums), by Paulo César Pinheiro, in order to discuss the emptying of meaning of this appointment, especially in the second half of that century.
Mots clés : Critical toponymy|Socio-spatial segregationn|Public policy|Slums|Rio de Janeiro
A104169IL