Selling the favela: thoughts and polemics about a tourist destination

The article discusses the development of the favela into a tourist attraction, examining how promoters in four different favelas attempted to actually place them in the tourist market. The development of the favela into a tourist destination is seen as part of the so-called reality tours phenomenon and of the global circulation of the favela as a trademark. The methodology included different strategies: long interviews with qualified informants, field observation, and participant observation in different tours. The article concludes with some thoughts on my own research experience on such a polemic field of investigation.