Dreaming and becoming at the time of the World Cup. Visual narratives and performance strategies of two young Brazilians in offline-online urban São Paulo

Abstract

The Brazilian urban periphery is experiencing new opportunities, the possibility of a social mobility that was unforeseen just a decade ago, the result of years of specific policies dedicated to the urban poor, of general policies aimed at the redistribution of income, and of the stability of the Brazilian economy. My study focuses on the process of self-realization of two young Brazilians, Fabio Guimarães Gava and Ana Carolina Rocha, that came from the urban periphery and reached the center of São Paulo. The World Cup is the historical context within that I observed, participated in and filmed their daily lives, a privileged period that aroused their self- reflections. The consciousness in their self-presentation is central in their career development and individual achievements, as their ability of acquiring network, of grasping opportunities and finding their way through the obstacles they encounter. Their interactive visual narrative of self online, can help them to emerge, to social navigate: it makes them visible and it helps them to be included in the society they want to be part of. In my study I focused on their visual narratives of self in Facebook and their performances in front of the camera. By analysing and confronting them, I interpreted how their online visual narrative, can influence their emergence in society. I could investigate how, through their online narration of self and interactivity, Carol and Fabio can dream their envisaged selves, and try to reach them.