Department of Geography and Planning Seminar Series
Speaker: Dr. Anne-Marie Veillette, GPPL Postdoctoral Researcher
Wednesday November 20, 2024
3:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Miller Hall | Room 201
ABSTRACT: Many of Latin America’s major cities face high rates of violence, particularly in marginalized or peripheral areas, where a significant proportion of the low-income, racialized or stigmatized population lives. Throughout their history, these areas have almost always aroused fear, along with a fascination for their distinct culture and mode(s) of urbanization. This is particularly true of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where fear and violence play significant roles in defining them as “distinct spaces” within the city.
Yet, women from these urban areas have taken a fundamental leadership in preventing violence, defending human rights and bringing about positive social transformations. This presentation seeks to show how women’s involvement is helping to change the atmosphere of terror within favelas, to what extent, and with what effect(s) on cities. More precisely, it aims to shed light on how “ordinary” actresses, marginalized in their urban context, manage to become agents of urban transformation based on their ability to intervene directly in the affective dimension of urban life.
DR. ANNE-MARIE VEILLETTE is a feminist urban scholar focused on the relationship between gender and urbanization in the margins and peripheries of Latin American cities. Recently, her work has led her to give specific attention to embodied forms of urbanization and the role emotions play in building more just and inclusive cities. To learn more, please read Embodied Urbanizations and Amefrican Futurities: Lucia’s Epistemology, published in the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.