Alternative perspectives on Rio 2016: constructing and disseminating counter narratives

This paper will discuss the counter narratives promulgated by civil society groups critical of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Drawing on a year of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Brazil, the paper examines how the activists framed their opposition to the Olympic project in terms of David Harvey’s concept of the right to the city. In this sense, activists grouped diverse personal troubles from across the city of Rio de Janeiro and grouped them together under the public issue of the right to the city to provide a comprehensive rebuttal of Olympic development. The paper also includes consideration of how this counter narrative was disseminated through protest events, documentation, and social media.