Geographies of Injustice: Gender and the City
Project Co-Directors: Anupama Rao, Ana Paulina Lee
Project Coordinators: Ana Luiza de Abreu Claudio (2023), Iuri Bauler (2022), Sohini Chattopadhyay (2021)
Media Fellow: Jessica Jacolbe (2020)
Geographies of Injustice is a working group committed to exploring the question of subaltern urbanism and aesthetics from an explicitly South-South perspective by bringing urban studies into conversation with studies of social difference, inequality, and cultural production. We have a specific focus on representation and decolonization as they relate to subaltern urban architectural and infrastructural forms. We are particularly keen to bring studies of planning and built form into conversation with concerns about the particular vulnerabilities that minority communities face in navigating situations of urban marginalization.
Our project, “Reconstructing Memory in Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas and Mumbai’s Zhopdis” seeks to develop a template for addressing spatial politics through engagements with historical memory, music, performance, and creative survival strategies of subaltern communities. Our working group draws on the convergent yet distinct urban trajectories of Bombay/Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro, cities associated with the slum and the favela, respectively, as connected sites from which to better apprehend today’s global housing crisis. We work with community museums and grassroots organizations to develop solutions that will influence policy and sustainable urban planning. We approach self-housing settlements in Rio de Janeiro and Mumbai through connected histories of the Global South where cheap labor, urban conflict and precarious living conditions define the social life of peripheral capitalism.
News
The co-director of the Geographies of Injustice working group spoke about the book History and Collective Memory in South Asia, 1200–2000.
This talk is a part of the Understanding Systemic Racism: Art and Politics series hosted by the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society at Columbia University.
As an AAWW fellow Jessica Jacolbe will report on Asian diasporic and Muslim communities in New York City.
Ana Paulina Lee is moderating “Liberating the Sacred: Afro-Brazilian Religions, Cultural Heritage, and the Law” on November 5th.
Ana Paulina Lee writes about an upcoming Dread Scott documentary on the 1811 German Coast Uprising.
The workshop was hosted by the Decolonial Collective on Migration of Objects and People at Brown University.
Publications
Image by Michael Alvarez from the series, "We're Out Here"
Past Events
The second piece of a two-part event, the Beyond Dystopia Roundtable follows the Dry Ground Burning film screening on Friday, April 28.
This film screening is the first piece of a two-part event, and will be followed by the Beyond Dystopia Roundtable on Saturday, April 29.
WORKSHOP: Love in the Time of Hypercapitalism
Artist Talk with Paromita Vohra: Gardens of Pleasure Feminism, Desire and Doing Documentary Work in (for) South Asia
A music festival, live streamed.
A Música - Repertório de Viagens | An event with Silvio Luiz de Almeida + MC Carol.
Fellows
Doctoral Student, International Affairs and Journalism, Columbia University
Teresa holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and is currently pursuing a Master of International Affairs and an MS in Journalism at Columbia University. She previously worked at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (Rome), where she was responsible for the coordination and editing of high-profile publications. Among others, she edited the joint FAO-EL PAÍS publications series “The State of our Planet”. She is interested in how documentary video, photography and journalism at large can drive social action and improve public policy across geographical boundaries.
Doctoral Student, History, Columbia University
Iuri Bauler Pereira holds a B.A. in History from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in History from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). His research focus on the transnational connections and geopolitical imagination of Latin American Countercultures (underground press, literature and film), Brazilian Critical Geography, and the Intellectual History of the Americas.
Sohini Chattopadhyay is a PhD Candidate in the History Department at Columbia University. Her dissertation focuses on the science of managing mass death in colonial cities, with a particular interest in Bombay and Calcutta among other cities in the early twentieth century.
Fellow, Social Sciences, Rural University of Rio de Janeiro
Professor at the Três Rios Institute at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. PhD in Social Sciences (PUC / Rio). Master in Social Sciences (PPCIS / UERJ). Post-doctorate by the Department of World Language and International Studies (Morgan State University / USA).
Fellow, Sustainability, Columbia University
Over 16 years of experience as project coordinator in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Sustainability, Social Responsibility, Sociocultural and Socioenvironmental Education and research. Coordination of +50 long, medium and short term projects in the areas of human rights, social memory, community media, environment, preservation of material and immaterial cultural heritage, with wide experience in complex environments such as conflict zones, isolated communities and extreme poverty.
Fellow, Government and Economics, London School of Economics
Matias Echanove is co-founder of the urbz collective along with Rahul Srivastava and Geeta Mehta, which has offices in Mumbai, Geneva and Bogota. He has studied government and economics at the London School of Economics, urban planning at Columbia University, and urban information systems at the University of Tokyo.
Doctoral Student, History, Fundação Getúlio Vargas
Fernando Ermiro is a resident of Rocinha. He is currently completing a Master's degree at Fundação Getúlio Vargas.
Fellow, Geographer, Social Action Padre Anchieta (ASPA)
Antonio Carlos Firmino is a founding member of the Sankofa Museum of Memory and History of Rocinha. He is a geographer, and coordinator of one of the oldest institutions of the Favela da Rocinha, the Social Action Padre Anchieta (ASPA).
Undergraduate Student, Latin American and Caribbean Studies & Political Science, Columbia College, Columbia University
Gabriel Franco is an undergraduate student at Columbia University in the fields of Latin American & Caribbean studies and political science. His areas of focus are Brazilian slavery and race studies and public security in Brazil, especially regarding drug policy and dynamics of urban violence as part of the "war on drugs" mentality.
Jessica Jacolbe is a writer from Brooklyn whose work has been featured in Catapult, Garage Magazine, JSTOR Daily, and others.
Associate Professor, Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures, Columbia University
Ana Paulina Lee is Associate Professor of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University. She is the author of Mandarin Brazil: Race, Representation, and Memory (Stanford University Press).
Professor, Department of Latin America and Iberian Cultures, Columbia University
Professor at the Department of Latin America and Iberian Cultures, Columbia University. She specializes in modern Latin American Culture with a focus on contemporary cultural practices. She is co-editor of The Argentina Reader: History, Culture, and Politics (2002).
Fellow, Afro-Brazilian Women and Health, 1st World Summit of Afro-descendants in Honduras
Mãe Nilce de Iansã; Project Coordinator at Ilê Omolú e Oxum- Rio de Janeiro; Coordinator of the National Network of Afro-Brazilian Women and Health; Member of the International Committee of the Organization of the 1st World Summit of Afro-descendants in Honduras, 2011; Member of the Technical Committee of Health of the Black Population.
Associate Professor, Department of History, Columbia University
Anupama Rao has research and teaching interests in the history of anti-colonialism; caste and race; historical anthropology, social theory and intellectual history, and comparative urbanism. She is Senior Editor, Comparative Studies in South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She has served as President, Society for the Advancement of South Asian History (American Historical Association), and on the South Asia Council of the Association for Asian Studies. Her work has been supported by fellowships at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford) and the National Humanities Center (North Carolina), and by grants for the American Institute for Indian Studies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Isabela Souza is a PhD student in Geography at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), and holds a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), a MBA in Project Management from Brazilian Institute of Capital Market (IBMEC - RJ) and a bachelor degree in Tourism from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO).
Rahul Srivastava is co-founder of the urbz collective along with Matias Echanove and Geeta Mehta, which has offices in Mumbai, Geneva and Bogota. He has studied Sociology and Social Anthropology at St. Xavier's College - Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru University - New Delhi, and Cambridge University - U.K.
Public Prosecutor, Office of Cultural Heritage in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sergio Suiama is a Federal Prosecutor in Brazil and a Columbia Law LL.M. alumnus (class of 2009-2010). Also, he holds a master in World Heritage and Cultural Projects for the Development from University of Turin. Graduated from University of Sao Paulo Law School, he has worked in the Brazilian prosecution service since 2002, and at the Office of Cultural Heritage and Environment in Rio de Janeiro since 2014. Currently, he serves as well as the Ombudsperson for Human Rights in the State and coordinates the Working Group on LGBTQ’s rights at the Office of the Federal Ombudsman.
Fellow, Web Radio, Instituto Moreira Salles
Luiz Fernando Vianna is a journalist. He has written for O Globo, Folha de S. Paulo and other venues. He is the author of books on popular music, and coordinates the Batuta Radio since 2013.