ANTH 010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Conspicuous Consumption, Rocinha, Commodity Fetishism
30 Sep 2020
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Trafficker laws prohibit some crimes; maintain a semblance of order in exchange for forced reciprocity. Display power violently when their laws are breached: ex: tying a child abuser to a telephone pole and beating him, leaving him on display. Conspicuous consumption: another spectacle: e. g. perfume, watches, tvs, guns, jewelry, liquor= glamorizes drug trafficking. Traffickers date high class women (not from favela) to attain power/ status (e. g. beto) Traffickers fund events like bailes funk (a way to symbolically legitimize trafficker lifestyle) Favela residents are not well-integrated into mainstream. State presence (especially before pacification) is lacking. Drug traffickers occupy power vacuum and act as a state (see phone photo) Domination: war: invasion of other favelas, maintain order through spectacular, violence punishment, display of weapons, forced reciprocity. Hegemony: spectacles: funk dances, conspicuous consumption, graffiti (tagging, provides services like health care subsidies. Fetish originally an object endowed with supernatural/ religious power. Karl marx and other social scientists discuss commodity fetishism.
