The story of a housing cooperative in Rio de Janeiro: between everyday “struggles” and building “bonds of solidarity”

Abstract

Abstract
Cooperativa Habitacional Esperança has become a symbol of successful “struggle” and high-quality housing built by popular movements. Its construction took place through collective effort and autogestion (self-management) regimes, which are essential categories for thinking about the forms of action of the housing movement. This article is the result of an ethnography carried out from 2014 to 2018. Among the reflections brought up by the ethnography, the multiple ways of understanding the task force and autogestion (self-management) are highlighted: on the one hand, leaders of the movement and actors linked to non-governmental and religious entities understand the task force as a “pedagogical” moment, of building “bonds of solidarity in the community” and essential to guarantee the political/collective character of the cooperative; on the other hand, future residents see it as the “sacrifice” necessary to secure their “right to housing”.

Keywords: Housing movement; housing cooperative; housing struggles; autogestion; self-management.