ABSTRACT
In its origin, the touristic favela benefited from the transcontinental mobility of people and ideas, of images and information. However, to be able to consolidate it in the market of poverty tourism, promoters of favela tourism also needed to ensure the circulation of very specific objects: souvenirs. This chapter discusses such “objects” that work as tangible markers of a particular cultural experience involving the conversion of the experience of poverty into a touristic product. Our general hypothesis is that the souvenirs produced in the context of favela tourism offer a privileged point of view from which we can understand the paradoxes of the transnational flows directed toward certain favelas and projected in various directions.
