People

Eliana Sousa Silva

Founder of Redes da Maré, professor at UFRJ, and one of the most influential figures in contemporary Brazilian favela research, advocacy, and community organizing.

Early life and community

Eliana Sousa Silva grew up in the Nova Holanda community in the Complexo da Maré. She trained as an educator and completed her doctorate at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). She has held academic positions at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

Work

In 1997 Eliana Sousa Silva co-founded the Centro de Estudos e Ações Solidárias da Maré (CEASM), an education and cultural-action organization based in Maré that became one of the foundational community-research institutions in a Brazilian favela. CEASM ran preparatory courses for the federal university entrance exam, cultural programming, oral-history projects documenting Maré life, and other initiatives.

In 2007 she founded Redes da Maré, which grew out of CEASM's work and expanded its scope. Redes da Maré operates programs across education, public-security monitoring (the Boletim Direito à Segurança Pública na Maré is a recurring publication on lethal-violence indicators and police operations affecting the complex), women's rights, cultural production (Galpão Bela Maré is a community art space and exhibition venue), and public-policy advocacy. The 2013 Maré Census, conducted by Redes da Maré, was one of the first large-scale community-conducted demographic surveys of a Brazilian favela and produced findings that were widely cited.

Her doctoral and post-doctoral research has addressed favela politics, community organizing, and the state-favela relationship; her book Testemunhos da Maré (2015) is a substantial account of community life in the Maré complex.

Influence and recognition

Eliana Sousa Silva is one of the most influential figures in contemporary Brazilian favela research and advocacy. Redes da Maré has been internationally recognized as a reference institution in favela-rooted research and action. The organization has been a partner of UFRJ, the federal Ministry of Health, the city of Rio de Janeiro, and international academic and human-rights institutions.

The Marielle Franco assassination in March 2018 had specific resonance with the Maré community; both Marielle Franco and Eliana Sousa Silva were from Maré, and Redes da Maré's public-security monitoring work overlapped substantively with the issues at the center of Marielle's mandate.

Further reading

See Complexo da Maré and Organizations.