Rita Afonso

Beyond the “deficit discourse”: Mapping ethical consumption discourses in Chile and Brazil

This article challenges the longstanding trend of much empirical material on ethical consumption originating from the global North, offering instead rich data on ethical consumption and practices in Chile and Brazil. Drawing on data generated from 32 in-depth focus groups (179 participants in total) in both countries, the article identifies similarities and differences between these two countries and with the global North. We identify how ethical consumption in Chile and Brazil is conceptualized mainly at two different scales, namely first, the everyday ethics of consumption at household scale and, second, a more global scale of discourse on environmental problems and the negative effects of globalisation. At the household scale, narrative themes include those of prudence, of avoiding overconsumption, family health, and focus on quality. At a more national and international scale, respondents from all classes in both countries discussed labour conditions associated with Chinese imports. Further, particularly university-educated and well-travelled respondents had adopted international environmentalist discourses. Employing a relational geography to discourses, the article calls for research to both include and transcend cross-country comparisons, and binaries of global North and South.

Coproduced game-changing in transformative social innovation: reconnecting the “broken city” of Rio de Janeiro

Social innovation is gaining attention for its potential for system transformations. It is often initiated by grassroots collectives, which can become successful through support from other actors and through certain game-changing events or developments. We highlight how transformative social innovation is a highly dispersed, coproduced process of changing social relations. This coproduction is unfolded through a case of interacting interventions in the socio-spatial structure of the city of Rio de Janeiro. Frequently referred to as a “broken city,” the city suffers from various social challenges related to the socio-spatial cleavages between the welldeveloped and the marginalized areas, the favelas. Following a nested-case approach, we describe two policy measures and three social innovation initiatives intended to reconnect the broken city. We analyze their effects as well as their various interactions. The findings give reasons for considering the policy measures as “game-changers” that allow new courses of play. Still, the key observation about these intertwined socio-spatial interventions is that the broken city is undergoing more dispersed game-changing. Further observing how the reconnections constitute different kinds of changing mobility, we conclude with reflections on mobility-related game-changing.

Creative economy as a social technology approach: A case study in favela da Mangueira, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the characteristics of creative economies in favelas and their potential in terms of social development from a comparison between the theory on creative economy and the characteristics of the initiatives mapped in the Mangueira favelas. Design/methodology/approach The research was based on qualitative methodology and literature review. The creative economy initiatives were mapped in the territory of Mangueira and semi-structured interviews and questionnaire of closed questions were applied with the representatives of these. The data collected were treated with the content analysis method. Findings The research mapped 17 initiatives associated with creative economy sectors in the Mangueira favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The initiatives develop cultural and artistic activities that make the young people of the community aware of the history of their families, which promotes the strengthening of social ties and individual empowerment, contributing to local entrepreneurship. Practical implications The theory used in Brazil for the elaboration of public policies to promote the creative economy points to the presence of cultural and symbolic aspects in economic activities as resources for the generation of income. However, it is important to understand how this applies in different contexts, which may have or lack certain characteristics of human and physical capital pointed as essential by theory to creative economy promotion. Originality/value The results of this research go beyond the theory of creative economy and highlight characteristics of project management and impacts on social development that demonstrate how the dynamics of the creative economy in the Mangueira favelas also represent a case of social innovation using social technology tools.