Stolen Cars is an innovative ethnography of urban inequalities and violence in São Paulo, Brazil.
Organized around the journeys of five stolen cars, each chapter discusses a specific theme, such as the distinctions between violent robbery and the more commercial non-violent theft or the role of national borders interconnecting illegal and legal economies Provides an original theoretical framework for a rarely studied urban and transnational supply chain Draws from empirical data and a combination of different methodologies to demonstrate mechanisms of urban inequalities and violence reproduction Highlights how everyday life is entangled with structural urban transformations Uses an ethnographic narrative to show how urban development produce various forms of illegality and violent crime
Edited by:
Gabriel Feltran
Imprint: John Wiley & Sons Inc
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 15mm
Weight: 397g
ISBN: 9781119686125
ISBN 10: 1119686121
Series: IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series
Pages: 272
Publication Date: 10 February 2022
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Notes on Contributors viii Series Editors’ Preface x Introduction 1 Gabriel Feltran A Phone Call 7 A Global Market 9 Theoretical Framework: Normative Regimes 11 Inequalities 18 Methods: About Journeys, Tacking, and Our Collaborative Research Team 21 A Collective Research Team 27 Ethical Issues, Diversity, and Typical Days 29 Chapter Structure 31 1 Crime, Violence, and Inequality in São Paulo 37 Gregorio Zambon and Gabriel Feltran 7 a.m. (Fiat Strada) 39 10:00 a.m. (Hyundai HB20) 43 5:15 p.m. (Fiat Palio) 47 8:40 p.m. (Ford Ka) 53 Urban Violence and Market Regulation 56 2 State Reaction 63 Gabriel Feltran Police Use of Lethal Force 66 Imprisonment 74 The “Clearing of Public Roads” 78 Political Legitimation 80 3 Designing the Market 87 Deborah Fromm Insurance as a Mediator 94 The Automobile Business: From the Streets of São Paulo to the Panama Papers 99 4 Auctions and Mechanisms 104 André de Pieri Pimentel and Luiz Gustavo Simão Pereira Central Circuits: Insurance Companies that Sell at Auctions 109 Some Numbers 111 Marginal Circuits: Car Dealerships and Chop-shops that Buy at Auctions 115 Auctioneers: Economics and Politics 121 5 Dismantling a Stolen Car 127 Isabela Vianna Pinho, Gregório Zambon, and Lucas Alves Fernandes Silva Family, Market, Politics 130 Between Extremes: From “Recicla” to “Sheds” 135 Prices and Stratification 143 6 Regulating an Illegal Market 147 Luana Motta, Janaina Maldonado, and Juliana Alcântara A Brief Chronology of the Dismantling Law 149 Old Practices, New “Political Merchandise”: The Everyday Experience of the Dismantling Law 152 The Political Centrality of Police Officers 158 Police Regulation and Violence 161 7 Not Criminals, Legislators 165 Deborah Fromm and Luana Motta New Laws, New Markets 169 Illegal Markets, Microfinance, Corporate Philanthropy 171 Action and Reaction 174 Parallel Insurance and the Protection Market 175 The Law that Governs the Market, the Market that Governs the Law 181 8 Globalization and Its Backroads 187 André de Pieri Pimentel, Gabriel Feltran, and Lucas Alves Fernandes Silva A Global Market and Its Margins 190 Connecting Markets 194 Urban Reconfigurations 198 North–South Urban Inequalities 202 Conclusions 208 Gabriel Feltran Afterword: Following Cars in a Latin American Metropolis: Inequality, Illegalisms, and Formalization 220 Daniel Veloso Hirata References 228 Index 245
Gabriel Feltran is an urban ethnographer who has studied the ‘world of crime’ in Brazil for more than two decades. He is Professor of Sociology at the Federal University of São Carlos and Senior Researcher at the Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). He has held Invited Scholar positions at University of Oxford, UK, and Humboldt University, Germany, and is former Academic Director of the Center for Metropolitan Studies, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Professor Feltran’s works include The Entangled City: Crime as Urban Fabric in São Paulo.
Reviews for Stolen Cars: A Journey Through São Paulo's Urban Conflict
‘Something of an instant classic, Stolen Cars pins its researcher’s sights on the moving targets selected by the thieves and robbers of Sao Paulo’s criminal networks. Those expecting only underworld revelations are quickly re-educated to see how acts of illicit acquisition form part of a more complex and vast urban economy whose shadow embraces both the formal and the illicit. Stolen Cars is a detailed, complex and exciting story with an intellectual energy that matches the turbo-charged vehicles so prized by Sao Paulo’s thieves.’ Rowland Atkinson, Research Chair in Inclusive Societies, University of Sheffield, UK ‘This book should be an instant classic. Theft and crime shape urban livelihoods and everyday experiences in many cities, at the frontiers of often extreme inequality. But these themes are absent from the canon of urban theory. Through a detailed ethnography of car theft in Sao Paulo, Stolen Cars traces the deep ties of these illegal circuits with insurance, finance, auto production and repair, as well as the international drug trade. A highly innovative account of crucial transnational networks shaping urban life and urban economies, this book represents an essential new starting point for global urban studies.’ Jennifer Robinson, Professor of Geography, University College London, UK
