Mega-events of the Olympic proportions have multiple consequences for their hosts. For Brazil, hosting two in a limited time (the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games of 2016) has energised diverse and bilateral movements of ideas, human resources, technologies and labour. Mobilities enabled by Western technology (the Internet and its social media circuits) seem to have the most notable impact on the style and principles of Brazilian self-presentation to the world, thus making, demaking and remaking Brazilian character as a commodity. More specifically, the developing Rio 2016 website seems to project particular Brazilian worldviews to global audiences while concealing other, less palatable social realities (such as those of favela poverty, unemployment and protest) to potential visitors. Whereas favela cultures and the culture of Brazilian protest have diachronically contributed to the development of Brazilian socio-cultural identity and well-being, they have been side-lined or beautified in these digital self-narrations.
The chapter takes a balanced view on these omissions and representations in view of the real pressures national polities have to address in international mega-event markets. It considers these digital discourses as a double-edged sword: on the one hand, they align particular versions of Brazilian ethno-cultural self-narration with cosmopolitan cultures of travel to enable Brazil’s belonging in an international community of nations; on the other, they allow neoliberal networks to take over the governance of ethno-national habitus, thus either excluding vulnerable populations or coercing them into joining unregulated (tourist/consumption) markets in a battle for survival. Through an analysis of the Rio 2016’s web content, it is suggested that the host city’s creative imaginaries of habitus prioritise ideas of safe cosmopolitan travel, happiness and civilised exoticism to design and fully align Brazilian self-narration with the expectations of the global tourist gaze, ear, nose and palate. Whereas such self-presentations support a radical vision of Brazilianness in relation to well-being (communicating with embodied vividness, friendliness, hospitality and an ‘open’ reciprocal ethos), as tourist imaginaries they provide a partial view of the country’s socio-cultural realities
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)