Produção Nacional
SOBRE AS ORIGENS DA FAVELA
2011; UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO CEARÁ; Volume: 10; Issue: 23 Linguagem: Inglês
10.4215/rm2011.1023.0003
ISSN1984-2201
AutoresAlfredo Pereira de Queiroz Filho,
Tópico(s)Urban and Rural Development Challenges
ResumoThis paper focuses upon the origins of the Brazilian shantytown (favela).It investigates the context of the appearance of the housing and of the name itself which came to characterize this form of precarious settlement in Rio de Janeiro at the end of the 19th century.Evidence suggests that the appearance of the shacks was related to the population explosion and the lack of housing in what was the Federal Capital at the time.The name 'favela' is considered to have its origins in the place name 'Alto da Favela', a district on high ground located to the south of the town of Belo Monte, in the North-eastern state of Bahia, which was the site of the 'War of Canudos' uprising.'Favela' is also the popular name for a plant, common to the outback of Bahia where the fi ghting took place.The species described by Euclides da Cunha, in his book 'Os Sertões', is probably the Cninodoscolus quercifolius.Of the many theories concerning the renaming of the hill district 'Providência' as 'Favela' by those who had been involved in the uprising, the most plausible is that it recalls strategic and topographic features.On the 'Favela' hill in Canudos, the Republican troops were ambushed, and the occupation was extremely important in the defeat of Antonio Conselheiro's followers.The topography is associated with a metaphor for the deprivation suffered by the troops during and after the fi ghting.The natural diffi culties of the battle, compounded by the physical characteristics of the outback, were related to the struggle the soldiers had in receiving their pay once the war had ended.
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