Revisiting social resilience in informal settlements: The strength and the limits of Paraisópolis community action during the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo

This chapter discusses resilience in informal settlements amid the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019–2022, focussing on the case of Favela Paraisópolis, a large informal settlement in São Paulo, Brazil. It highlights the importance of community organisation in building resilience while arguing the importance of the State's action in structuring informal spaces as a condition for greater success of community resilience. It seeks to clarify factors leading to community resilience in Paraisópolis and whether these factors can contribute to an expanded understanding of the concept. It does so by revisiting resilience theory and conducting a critical analysis of the history of the pandemic inside the favela, informed by interviews with key stakeholders and health and demographic statistics. It subsequently highlights the limits of these actions organised by an economically and politically oppressed population that lacks the necessary capital to face a health crisis of this magnitude. It draws attention to the risks of a neoliberal appropriation of the concept of resilience as a narrative that delegates the solution of societal problems solely to individuals and communities, taking the State off the hook. Finally, it highlights the power of resilience as a dimension of oppressed communities’ struggles for effective public policies.