Art in a 'violent neighborhood': Pedagogical practices in a human rights policy

Bom Jardim, together with its bordering neighborhoods, has acquired the reputation of a 'violent neighborhood'. Since the early 1990s, this area of the Brazilian city of Fortaleza has been known by its high rates of crime and homicide. Narratives elaborated by residents and journalists reaffirm the violent context, but they also highlight moral counterbalances, such as the local activity of community associations and specially of groups of artistic practices. Local institutions mobilize pedagogical practices using art as medium with men and women, children and teenagers, in order to tackle the stigma of 'violent neighborhood'. In 2009, the Ministry of Justice launched the National Program of Public Security with Citizenship (Pronasci), which aims to set forth policies that combine police-related security and approaches to human rights. Due to its violence rates, Bom Jardim was the only area selected in the state of Ceará to integrate the framework of Território de Paz ('Territory of Peace'), a program that develops projects related to human rights and to the stimulation of social capital within the 'territories', reaching citizens, youngsters facing juvenile proceedings and police officers. Furthermore, the program offered funding to projects created by members of civil society that would carry out discussions on human rights and citizenship for teenagers through pedagogical artistic practices. Instead of being perceived as a constraint because of its specificity, this initiative has found a fertile ground in Bom Jardim, as those practices and the moral values embedded are shared by a number of residents. What do such practices have to say about human rights and the quest for social justice in Brazil? Through interviews with coordinators, residents and teenagers, as well as based on newspaper articles, this research aims to give meaning to the uses of art as a political process in a violent neighborhood.