Performing humanitarian militarism

Public security and the military in Brazil

in Focaal
Author:
Stephanie Savell Brown University stephanie_savell@brown.edu

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DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2016.750105
Keywords:
drug traffickers; militarization; UPP; policing; security; violence
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Abstract

This article investigates a case in which the Brazilian military, according to national press, “invaded” and “occupied” a Rio de Janeiro favela neighborhood under the auspices of a public security program. Rio’s “pacification” program aims to replace drug trafficking organizations’ control of favelas with Pacifying Police Units and counts on the occasional participation of the military. Based on research with military personnel and favela residents, I investigate the construction and consequences of the pairing of militarism with humanitarianism. I show how these logics are not opposed, as they might at first sound, but in practice, deeply aligned. Among other reasons, both state force and state caregiving are performances to justify military presence on the streets to audiences in and outside the favela. The visible spectacle of humanitarian militarism effaces abuses and makes light of the everyday fears and insecurities suffered by the urban poor.

Contributor Notes

Stephanie Savell, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Brown University, studies political culture and security in Brazil and the United States. Her current research investigates Rio de Janeiro’s controversial pacification program, which aims to replace drug trafficking organizations’ control of favelas with Pacifying Police Units. Stephanie’s work is published in PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, and she co-authored The civic imagination: Making a difference in American political life (Routledge, 2014). Her research has been funded by the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship, the Social Science Research Council, and the National Science Foundation. Email: stephanie_savell@brown.edu

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Focaal

Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology

Cover Focaal
Article Category:
Research Article
Page Count:
14
Keywords:
drug traffickers; militarization; UPP; policing; security; violence
Print Publication Date:
01 Jun 2016
Online Publication Date:
01 Jun 2016
Copyright:
© Stichting Focaal and Berghahn Books 2016

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