Touristic Governance in a Rio de Janeiro Favela: Mobility Regimes, Network Capital, and Community Leadership

Rio de Janeiro was at the centre of transnational touristic transits related to megaevents, especially the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. Historically associated with violence and poverty, some favelas of Rio were turned into tourist attractions, showcasing what was announced as a new ‘pacification program’ capable of facing criminality while providing a safe environment for those visitors. Joining the growing scholarship that critically examines the nexus between tourism and urban governance, this article brings together research findings on favela tourism that the authors have been collecting for more than a decade. In dialogue with the literature on mobilities regimes, we rely on and further develop the notion of ‘the metropolis of network capital’ while examining how one specific tour guide, who lived and worked on a ‘pacified favela’, became an important community leader during the Covid-19 crisis.