It's estimated that the Olympics will bring nearly 500,000 tourists to Rio and some of them are sure to take an unusual sightseeing tour that is unique to the region. People go on tours of Rio's Favelas. Most people think of this area dotted around the city as slums. Touring them is not always the ugly tourist exploitation it may seem at first I spoke with Dr. Ryan Goode, professor of geography who focused his doctoral research on Maureen Cavanaugh dirty sex in Rio. Welcome to the show. Give us an idea of how these are dispersed within Rio? Where are they located? Rio Favelas are unique and dispersed throughout the city. In major Brazilian cities you will generally find those on the periphery of the city. Due to the unique physical geography, hillsides and mountainsides in the core of the city, you have many in the very center in South zone of the city. Some folks have said Rio Favelas are internally referral. Peripheral locations right in the center of the city. And right up against very wealthy areas of the city. How difficult is life in a Favelas? Is important to know that all Favelas are unique and different . In some instances they are very poor, impoverished, on urbanized conditions to the other end with electricity and water. Very nice structures over 100 years. There is a great depth of diversity between Favelas. What links them. What makes them a Favelas? Three things make them. These emerge from folks arriving in the city and not having access to affordable housing. Favelas in Rio are essentially the affordable housing stock. These are all self built communities, built by residents with very little help from professional developers. They are built without government regulations. Those three characteristics make a Favelas. Again, there is incredible diversity from one to the next. You focus your doctoral research on how the social geography of Rio would be affected by the preparations for the 2016 Olympics. One of the things you noticed was an increase in Favelas tour is a. Who was making the stores? About 15 or 20 years ago it began with folks from outside the community bringing tourists into the Favelas . Some were taken in on jeeps where they would ride through the community and take a picture and write out again. Later it was a bands that would stop at different points in the community and speed off again. Since then, the last 5, tenures specifically, the industry has blown up. There are tors and numerous Favelas throughout Rios South zone. What kinds of things are pointed out in tors like this? Some tors will talk about Favelas in general. The characteristics of all Favelas. I think a more effective tour walks through the community and points out the history of that specific community, the cultural history of the community, the migration history of that unity. Each Favela, folks come from different parts of Brazil and bring their own culture to the community. The cultural history, the cultural emergence, the different opportunities in terms of recreation. Great diversity from tour to tour. The tourist themselves must be thinking that they are taking tors a very low income areas of Rio. What is the motivation of these tourist to take these tors? I interviewed nearly 70 of these tourists and ask their motivations. The number one thing they pointed out was they had seen the movie, city of God. Or other films about Rio and about the Favelas they wanted to see this illicit slice of life in Rio. That is one major thing. Another reason is many tourist believe that visiting a Favelas is actually visiting the authentic or real Rio de Janeiro. As if Copacabana are this manicured spaces for tourists. When you get into Favelas you are accessing real Rio de Janeiro culture. In the third thing is, for many of these folks, it provides a certain amount of cultural capital. Favelas are this forbidden fruit and this idea if you enter this community, take your picture in this community, posted on your social media accounts, you provide some cultural capital for yourself. Those are the main themes that emerged through my research speaking with tourists. What impacts does this have on the people who live in the Favelas? Again, a great variety. One study suggested that 84% of residents supported the tors. I will say this. Residents generally speaking do not like when a Jeep comes through, tors popout and take a photo and right through again. I'm sure you and your listeners could understand that. AB troop -- jeep drove by your house Emma took a photo and sped off, you would not appreciate it. You are being objectified. Other tourist who walk through the community and the tour guides introduce the tourist to the locals, shake hands, Hug, have interactions, I think those are valuable experiences. One thing that is important to point out is that Favelas in Brazil , they have this awful stigma where people who do not live in Favelas have stigmatize these folks and in many cases want nothing to do with the folks that live there. for many residents of Favelas, they are quite endeared that tourist would take the time to visit their community. It makes them feel important and they say we want our stories to be heard. Nobody listens to us outside of the community. Thank you for coming here. This is our story. Go tell it to whoever you are from. If done right I think the tors are positive. Speaking of those done correctly. There are different tors, some run by local residents and organizations. Others by outsiders, bigger companies. I guess the main difference of those must be the guy who drives the Jeep and tells you to take a picture in the other people who basically ingratiate you into the community itself. Generally speaking, yes. There are some outside agencies who do a better job and get folks in the community. Generally speaking, you are correct. The locally run tors -- Tours, fee on the pavement , rubbing shoulders and elbows with the locals. Also stopping for lunch. Stopping for a drink -- really spending social time in the community, and spending money. More of that money is redistributed to the community. What would you say to people heading to Rio for the Olympics who may be interested in taking a tour? I would say go on a tour. Find a local tour guide. And experience -- for me it's a fantastic, these are fantastic neighborhoods. One community has over 100,000 people were all the structures have been built by individual families over the decades. It is an architectural feat. Berry interesting community. In terms of it being a spontaneous, exciting, lively community, I find that more so there than in Copacabana. Spend the day. Take a Tours with a local guide. Another great thing that the local guides do is they will set you up after the fact, maybe a day later with a somber class or surfing lessons. Some local guide say okay we spent this time together on the Tours, would you be interested in coming back and partaking in some of the cultural activities of this community. Or just come back for food or beer sometime. Miniaturist take them up on that offer. Find a local guide and enjoy this side of the city. I have been speaking with Dr. Ryan Goode from Cerritos College. Thank you very much.
Hundreds of thousands of people are flocking to Rio de Janeiro for the summer Olympics. While many will head to the city’s main attractions like Christ the Redeemer and Copacabana beach, others will tour what some may call the seedier side of town: Rio’s favelas.
These neighborhoods are working-class communities historically neglected by the Brazilian government. For many people, favelas are synonymous with poverty and violence. Yet these communities draw nearly 50,000 tourists every year, with most tours happening in Rio de Janeiro.
Rio has more favela residents than any other city in Brazil, and an estimated 40,000 tourists visit them every year.
Dr. Ryan Goode, professor at Cerritos College, researched favelas as a doctoral candidate at San Diego State University.
He said many tourists are seduced by the thrill of danger associated with favelas.
“One thing I noticed with tourists is this idea of wanting to engage in riskless risk and build a sort of cultural capital for themselves,” Goode said.
He said some tourists see real value in snapping pictures inside a favela to post on their social networks.
Erik Martins lives in Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela. He began guiding tourists inside his community when he was 17 years old. He first did it informally and then through an external agency. He said the agency always encouraged him to pump up the risk factor.
“Some companies exploit the poverty and the violence and make this interesting for the tourists," Martins said. "I understand that some people, some tourists search for this.”
San Diego residents Tatiana Barbosa and Matt Morris traveled around the globe before landing in Rio and taking a tour last April. While they were not exactly looking for an adrenaline rush, they were expecting a risky scene.
“Going into it, I was kind of nervous. I didn’t know what to expect,” Morris said. “I just heard bad things about it, like it was the slums, kind of like you will get robbed, there’s gangsters all over, there’s a lot of gun shootings.”
But neither Barbosa nor Morris felt unsafe during the tour.
“It was really calm when we were there,” Barbosa said. “Actually we felt pretty safe inside a favela than anywhere else in Rio de Janeiro.”
Nearly one-fourth of Rio’s population lives in a favela, and data shows about 65 percent of its residents are middle class families.
Martins recently co-founded Rocinha by Rocinha, a tour agency run by residents of the favela. He said local guides can give a more accurate representation of the community.
“We have a fight,” Martins said. “Favela communities have a fight to make people understand that we are a part of of the city.”
Goode said in economic terms, local tour agencies benefit communities more than an agency run by outsiders.
“If you are taking a tour with a local guide, the vast majority of the money you are spending on the tour will be reinvested in the community through the local guide,” Goode explained. “A lot of the local agencies have excellent, excellent programs where they are donating a lot of the profits from these tours back to the community.”
Goode also pointed out walking tours with local guides can be more respectful to the community. A tour inside a van or a jeep keeps visitors away from interacting with the residents and gives the impression of a safari excursion, he said.
Despite that, a recent study conducted in Rocinha found 84 percent of locals are happy to have tourists visit.
“Favelas in Brazil are so stigmatized by Brazilians not living in favelas that actually the local residents are endeared that you want to visit them that you value them that you value their community,” Goode said.
