Working and resisting in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro:

monitoring, control and resistance of the urban poor

Abstract

The article analyzes the trajectory of Vitória, a favela resident who makes a living working on the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Her working life is profoundly affected by the Segurança Presente program. This is a privately-funded security program that operates in certain areas of Rio de Janeiro, seeking to expel undesirables and other urban poor. The actions
of Segurança Presente are permeated by illegalities in order to exercise patrimonial security in the neighborhoods they serve. And Vitória, like other undesirables who pass through the region, resorts to popular illegalisms in order to resist the illegal actions and practices of the state and survive in the midst of a life marked by many precariousness.