Ecology of violence in urban peripheries during health emergencies

Abstract

Violence is a health problem and a determinant of health emergencies. The exercise of violence goes beyond conspicuous interpersonal aggression, it comprises a network of violence with structural dimensions. Imposed precariousness, exploitation, persecution, territorial expulsions, incarceration practices, and household aggressions harm peripheral subjects and find in health emergencies the possibility of elevating themselves to the condition of a syndemic of violence. This has happened in the Covid-19 pandemic, in recent epidemics, and it is expected to happen in the next health emergency. In the present text, we outline the ecology of violence and relate it pandemic experiences in a favela of São Paulo city. Thus, we hope to give more visibility to the entanglement that frustrates prevention and protection efforts for health emergencies. Entanglement between marginalizing apparatuses, the ecology of violence, and health emergencies, materialized in multispecies collectives.