Camões Centre Seminar: Claire Williams (Oxford)
Location: Research Beehive
Time/Date: 18th March 2010, 16:00 - 17:00
Fascination with the world of crime, criminals and the atmosphere of fear created by obsessive media coverage have ensured that the bandidos of the hills and shantytowns of Brazil’s cities are a constant presence in the lives of the rest of Brazilian society. Shocking newspaper stories and dramatic TV reports situate crime firmly within the hillside favelas of Rio de Janeiro or the shantytowns of São Paulo, perpetuating prejudices about the people who live there. A significant number of recent independent, highly successful films and novels have emphasised the extreme violence and danger of Brazilian cities. A smaller amount of speculative fiction novels have also (including Martins de Oliveira’s A Noite dos Favelados 1984 and José Eduardo Agualusa’s O Ano em que Zumbi Tomou o Rio 2002) as well as works of science fiction in and outside Brazil, that look beyond the present predicament to suggest solutions to the favela problem, or imagine how the situation may develop: whether peacefully or apocalyptically.
Published: 27th January 2010