Narratives of Crisis in the Periphery of Sao Paulo: Place and Political Articulation during Brazil's Rightward Turn

Abstract

Between 2014 and 2018, a period marked by major political and economic upheaval, Brazilian politics shifted sharply to the Right. Presenting qualitative research conducted over 2016-17, this article examines this process from the perspectives of residents of a peripheral Sao Paulo neighbourhood. Analysis is presented of three broad groups of respondents, each of which mobilised a distinct narrative framework for interpreting the crisis. Based on this, I argue that the rightward turn in urban peripheries embodies not a significant ideological shift, but rather long-term transformations of place and the largely contingent ways these articulate with electoral politics.