The Circuito Casas-Tela – Caminhos de Vida of the Museu de Favela was visited by some teachers and students from FAETEC Ipanema on October 2, 2024. It fell to us (Diogo Azevedo and Elizabete Pereira) to develop this piece about this wonderful touristic experience.
Diogo, a 40-year-old man, resident of Baixada Fluminense.
Elizabete, 35 years old, woman, resident of the PPG community (Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo).
We had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the culture and values of the PPG through this circuit, as we will report below.
Ethnotourism in Rio de Janeiro
Because it is a Community-Based Tourism initiative, the Museu de Favela Circuito Casas-Tela offers a critical cultural immersion, contrasting with Rio de Janeiro's traditional tourist spots. There, we are exposed to the community's way of life and experience its hardships and customs.
At some points, it is not possible to take photographs or film, since it is an area dominated by a power parallel to that of the State, which makes this type of tour subject to conditions pre-established by the leadership.
Baile Funk da Espanha, a tradition in the PPG Complex.
Living Experience
We had a wonderful opportunity to be guided by Márcia Silva, a resident, tour guide, and one of the founders of the Museu de Favela, who took us on a cultural immersion within the PPG community. There, we had the chance to become part of the family that exists in that place.
We passed through streets, alleys, lanes, and rooftops, and every resident who crossed our path greeted us with warmth, cordiality, and attentiveness.
The facades of the favela's homes served as canvases for the paintings. It was impressive to hear residents express pride and satisfaction in being part of the community's artistic corridor. Many of them, even when needing to carry out renovations on their homes, refused to give up preserving the paintings.
Building Creative Tourism
There are several ways to explore Creative Tourism in the PPG:
Trail Landscapes Panoramic Bars Museu de Favela Baile da Espanha Art Exhibitions
Watch the interview alongside and see the opinion of the visual artist "Béro" on this topic.
Bernardo Araújo "Béro" - PPG Visual Artist
Favela Yes!
The concept behind the word "favela" comes from a low-lying vegetation of the caatinga that, during the Canudos War, sheltered soldiers on the hillsides. With the end of the war and the expropriation of the "cabeças de porco" tenements in the city center, the people left homeless began migrating to the hillsides, awaiting a "providence" from the State. That's how Favela da Providência came about.
In the PPG community, the term favela is associated with protection, shelter, and family - values they refuse to give up, as well as the pride of having overcome numerous adversities in order to enjoy their homes.
During the visit, my joy and satisfaction were immense. Both for being part of the current board and team of the NGO MUF - Museu de Favela, and also for being born, raised, and a resident of Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo. The tour by FAETEC Ipanema through the Casas-Tela was an opportunity to experience, together with my classmates and the teaching staff of FAETEC Ipanema, the work that has been carried out by MUF for 15 years, bringing this other perspective on the history, culture, and life within a favela. Whenever we welcome visitors to the Casas-Tela Circuit, we share our history, culture, and knowledge from a positive perspective.
Through the concept of social museology, it is possible to value our memories, respecting cultural diversity, fostering the active participation of the community, and making silenced memories visible.
Through the mechanisms of Social Museology, MUF brings to light everything that the Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo community recognizes as significant for the maintenance, preservation, and improvement of its way of life, and which is part of this tourist attraction.
Resident - Student - Guide
Demonstrating what is lived
The experience also allows for understanding the cultural construction of personal identity and how social inequalities are generated and reproduced.
There we actually have community-based tourism, where, just like me, the active founders are from Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo and work in the favela, striving to keep the community actively involved, safeguarding the memories and Casas-Tela - and to have them understand themselves as part of MUF's 'collection.'
It is a critical tourism, where we talk about our ancestry (the history of Africans who were enslaved, of the African diaspora, of indigenous people who already inhabited Brazil), empowering ourselves with knowledge, pride, and belonging.
It is an experience-based tourism, where visitors have the opportunity to connect with their own memories and become part of this “open-air collection,” experiencing a tourism of exchanges of knowledge, experiences, and memories.
Breaking Paradigms
At the end of our visit, we came to realize how important the knowledge we absorbed was for breaking down paradigms, stereotypes and prejudices about the favela. We recognized the vital importance of preserving this culture, history, wealth and heritage, which are often ignored and disregarded by most of our city's citizens.
As students and faculty of FAETEC Ipanema, today we can say with great pride and honor that we are part of the PPG Complex.
Image description: This is a photograph of an urban setting with people walking. On the left, there is a wall with a religious painting depicting a female figure with a halo and a crown, holding a cross. The painting is colorful, with shades of green, yellow, and blue. In the center, there is the entrance of a house with a closed door. On the right, several people are walking, some looking down. The background shows buildings with exposed electrical wiring.
