The Knowledge of violence:

ethnographic notes on a researcher and her findins

Abstract

from a researcher-teacher’s ethnographies conducted at different times in Maré (a favela territory in Rio de Janeiro), always using high schools as starting and ending points. Among the many contributions from the fieldwork, there is the perception that residents, workers, students, and all those who transit through Maré develop a “knowledge of violence” (Oliveira, 2021). This knowledge is made and remade in their experiences of housing, work, leisure, and transit. This knowledge is forged with things, being made not only in, but with, the territory, together with its sounds, things, absences, and presences. Some years after beginning her master’s thesis, the researcher continues her investigations in the same field, thus proving the ongoing relevance of the presented data as well as justifying its importance. This text, in addition to the perception and voice of the researcher-teacher in the participant observation carried out, includes the experiences of a large number of research subjects from different sociocultural backgrounds, as well as data on violence in Maré. Finally, it is worth highlighting that the broad time frame (2018-2026) makes this a longitudinal study.