How Alex compares to Brazil’s favela
ALEXANDRA – Alex is a study ground for aspiring Brazilian athropologist.
An aspiring anthropologist says Alex is very similar to the favelas of Brazil.
Elizabete Albernaz, a PhD exchange student from Brazil studying at Wits, has found Alex perfect for her comparative research in anthropology. Her studies take her into the hidden social spaces and minds of Alexandrians of all strata.
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She explained that the township is replete with all the ingredients of social inequality. Especially when juxtaposed with the nearby affluence of Sandton, the richest square mile on the continent; and Alex’s proximity to the fast-evolving middle class in Maboneng in the Joburg central business district.
Albernaz was attracted to Alex’s shacks, which echo a similar social malaise and the abominable conditions of her country’s infamous favelas where poverty, crime, squalor and all the accompanying social ills abound.
“Alex is a good study ground on social inequality, poverty vs affluence and on how spaces like Moboneng and Sandton can be exclusive bubbles of richness within a sea of poverty.” She added that the only distinction from Brazil is that the local conditions are derived from a recent past of legislated inequality.
She noted, however, that despite the depressed social and economic conditions, natural talent has emerged from Brazil to grace the global soccer scene, and cited examples of soccer greats Ronaldo, Fernandinho, Bebeto and others.
She also mentioned Alex’s own renowned musicians Caiphus Semenya, Hugh Masekela, Condry Ziqubu, poet Mongane Serote, former state presidents Nelson Mandela and Kgalema Motlanthe and religious leader, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
She said their successes and role modelling brought hope, improved social conditions through sponsored projects, and encouraged more talent exposure which could have been lost to crime and vice.
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“In Brazil, the stars conform to society’s expectations to help and they are often seen hanging around as part of their payback, and to encourage others to explore and exploit their talents as a means to exit poverty,” she said.
Hopefully, Albernaz’s study outcomes from her temporary base at Phutaditjaba Community Development Centre on 17th Avenue will inform the local authority’s development planning processes.
Details: betealbernaz@gmail.com
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