Paper short abstract:

This presentation will analyze the role of tourist practices and performances and their capacity - real and potential- to resignify and transform the physical, social and cultural landscape of tourist favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

Paper long abstract:

Slum tourism is a controverted type of alternative tourism that since 1990 has been rising in popularity and sites in urban destinations north and south of the world. This phenomenon was studied in different fields and from multiple perspectives for over thirty years. However, this ongoing research will focus on the networks stitched between human and non-human actors through tourist practices and performances in favela -slum- Santa Marta, located on the edge of one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Rio de Janeiro. The effects and affects of these connections will be analysed to draw on the potential of tourism to shorten the symbolic and physical distances between the formal and informal city. The presentation will show the results of ethnographic fieldwork carried out by the author for six months in this community which had been carrying community-based tourism officially since 2010. While doing tourism, tourists themselves become co-producers of spatial and symbolic realities, making people, places and narratives visible or invisible, trivial or relevant. Is during this negotiation that favela dwellers have the opportunity to create their narratives, give voice to their struggles and promote their cultural production. Yet, the need for public institutions to regulate this sensitive kind of tourism will be highly recommended to prevent communities from being banalised and exploited.