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Geographies of death: an intersectional analysis of police lethality and the racialized regimes of citizenship in São Paulo

2009; Routledge; Volume: 33; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01419870903325636

1466-4356

João Costa Vargas, Jaime Amparo Alves,

Sex work and related issues

Abstract Abstract This paper presents an intersectional analysis of police lethality in the city of São Paulo. We deploy the concept of geography of death to investigate the multi-layered aspects of state-sanctioned lethal violence perpetrated by, but not limited to, the police force. This entails a consideration of at least three types of factor: actual violent acts, their symbolic dimensions and the historical and structural conditions within which violence emerges. Based on official data from the Brazilian state we argue that there is a perverse correlation between vulnerability to death and new racial formations, as they intersect with social class, age, gender, and place. Thus, the distinctive social geographies of São Paulo not only provide the context, but also define the very nature, frequency and experience of police violence. Ultimately, we argue, police lethality is a manifestation of the police and the state's complicity in reproducing boundaries of privilege and exclusion. Keywords: Police lethalitysocial vulnerabilityviolenceurban spacegeography of deathracism Notes 1. São Paulo's Secretary of Public Safety releases an annual report on police abuse but it is not categorized by race, class or age. See São Paulo Police Ombudsman in http://www.ouvidoria-policia.sp.gov.br/pages/Relatorios.htm 2. Pesquias Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD), Brazil: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística IBGE, 1996. 3. DIEESE Intersindical Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies 2006. 'O negro no mercado de trabalho'. Estudos e Pesquisas, 26, November, p. 6. 4. See Retrato das Desigualdades Raciais e de Genero, and PNAD 2007. IPEA/Brasília 2007. 5. Comissão Justiça e Paz da Arquidiocese de Salvador. See also Revista Carta Capital, 8 February 2008. Available at www.cartacapital.com.br/app/materia.jsp?a=2&a2=6&i=48 6. Ouvidoria da Polícia do Estado de São Paulo – Relatórios trimestrais e anuais. Available at http://www.ouvidoria-policia.sp.gov.br/pages/Relatorios.htm 7. Jon Jeter, 'Death squads feed terror in Rio slums', Seattle Times 27 October 2003.