Geoporn: spectacular reproduction in Olympic Rio de Janeiro

Keywords: geoporn, landscape, spectacularization, sports mega-events, Rio de Janeiro,
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 26

Abstract

This paper proposes geoporn as an analytic lens to examine the ways
in which the processes and effects of representing urban landscapes
have remained remarkably consistent over several centuries. The analysis
begins with the exploration of the differences and similarities
between geoporn and ecoporn, suggesting that the latter lens is too
narrowly focused on ecology and “nature” to examine the violences,
exclusions, and power imbalances embedded in representations of
place. By examining the ways in which representations of Rio de Janeiro
create cascading power dynamics that range in scale from the landscape
to the human body, this article proposes geoporn as an
entrenched practice, an analytic frame, and a heuristic. The analysis
begins with landscape paintings in Brazil’s colonial period and works
through the dynamics of capital accumulation that reshaped Rio de
Janeiro during a decade of hosting sports mega-events.