HOUSES, TRANQUILITY AND PROGRESS IN AN ÁREA DE MILÍCIA

Abstract

Abstract This paper examines how power relations are organized and institutionalized in áreas de milícia (militia-controlled areas) in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Drawing on my experience in public policies and research conducted in such areas, I look to understand the interweaving of politics and the security market in the vast but little known West Zone of the city. Reconstructing the story of one particular house in an área de milícia and tracing its connections back to the political genesis of the area’s top leader - who figures in the now famous CPI das Milícias report - the paper reveals unforeseen interconnections between urban policies and the expanding illegal security market.