Paper short abstract:

Unlike some who argued that enclosing walls jeopardize the urban way of life, our fieldwork in a Rio de Janeiro poor neighborhood suggests that brick walls and fences are a common way of relating to others, and contribute to the making of everyday life.

Paper long abstract:

Unlike some who argued that enclosing walls result from both negative individualism and the fear of violent crime, and jeopardize the urban way of life, our fieldwork in a poor neighborhood located at the urban fringe of Rio de Janeiro suggests that they actually are a common way of "relating" (Carsten) to kin, neighbors and strangers. First, fences indicate that the enclosed land plot "has an owner" (tem dono), who is "taking responsibility" (tomando conta) - the true "owner" or "master" (dono) is not the person who is legally entitled to use his plot, but the one who publicly cares for it. Second, thanks to walls and fences, people can see without being seen. Having a say about what people can look at is an important aspect of housekeeping: according to popular beliefs in the "Evil Eye" (olho grande), others' envious gaze is a potential source of trouble. Third, people build on a same plot different walls to assert their "freedom" (liberdade) and "privacy" (privacidade), two central - and identical - values of domestic and family life: nobody wants to live together with one's own kin in the same "house" (casa). Thus building walls allow various families to live on a same plot, but in different houses. This work suggests that the house functions as both a socio-spatial and a moral category.

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