Children of a Brazilian Favela

Abstract

Robert Coles describes the political socialization of children in a Brazilian favela and how, in the midst of extreme deprivation, they place themselves in the social and political order of their country. He offers, in the children's own words, their acute understanding of the role of religion, the police, and the wealthy in shaping their existence, a"paradoxical combination of weary cynicism and fatuous optimism, and in between, a terrible apprehension of what, finally, must be."