SUBALTERNITY AND OTHERNESS: AN INTERNAL ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE IN A FAVELA

Abstract

The word community implies homogeneity and equality. Nevertheless, in favelas, the community is characterised by its heterogeneity and its internal battles among its members. This article aims at analysing Carolina Maria de Jesus's descriptions of her life in the favela of Canindé, in her book Child of the Dark, facts which took place in the 1950s. The aspects of otherness and subalternity will be applied to this study to understand how such a clear description of the drama in the favelas did not reach Brazilian society and the political realm when it was published. This article will also describe how the favela subaltern community are heterogeneous and lack unity against the powerful forces that submit these communities to invisibility and otherness.