Coexisting normative regimes, conflict and urban inequalities in a Brazilian Favela

Abstract

This article contributes to debates about the everyday negotiation of difference, inequality and conflict in cities by developing the notion of ‘coexisting normative regimes’. Normative regimes are plausible parameters of action that are sedimented in subjectivities and reproduced in everyday routines. We argue that in many Brazilian favelas and other marginalised urban spaces, distinct and unassimilable normative regimes coexist in space, each providing distinct frameworks and guidelines for dealing with everyday situations. Based on extensive ethnographic research conducted in a favela in the city of Belo Horizonte, the article identifies the everyday ways in which normative regimes operate, how they link to broader urban inequalities, and the ways in which individuals and groups navigate between them and the various threats they pose.