Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the rhetorical establishment of a demographic vacuum in the centre of Rio de Janeiro is part of the process that connects commodified and non-commodified territories, a condition for the creation of capitalist value. It illustrates that the processes of incorporation, decoupling and reincorporation of the port district into the dynamic of accumulation have systematically accompanied the history of the area from the creation of the port at the end of the 16th century. The book examines the most developments in Marxist theory on capitalist expansion, in particular, those that indicate that mechanisms like the ones Karl Marx described as primitive or original accumulation continue to be central for the reproduction of capitalism. It explores the relations between the port and the city in order to reveal the different processes and mechanisms that associate port and city to capitalist accumulation.