Political Geography 84 (2021) 102305 0962-6298/Crown Copyright © 2020 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Intervention Articulating corruption of infrastructural upgrading projects in Rio de Janeiro Carolyn Prouse Department of Geography and Planning, Mackintosh-Corry Hall D304, Queen’s University, Kingston, K7L 3N6, Canada A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Articulation Conjuncture Corruption Brazil Favelas ABSTRACT Residents of Brazilian low-income communities have long called actions of the state “corrupt,” rhetoric that has arguably intensifed in the wake of large-scale infrastructural upgrading decisions. Inspired by a new wave of critical corruption studies, in this paper I ask: how is infrastructural upgrading a key site of politics and political understandings of the state for residents in Complexo do Alem˜ ao, Rio de Janeiro? How do discourses about corrupt decision-making mechanisms and money appropriation produce common sense notions of how the po- litical system operates? And what work do these narratives do for demonstrating agency of the people living in Complexo? In answering these questions I contribute to an emerging conjunctural research agenda in global urban and corruption studies. I draw on the dual notion of articulation as central to the conjuncture: how the conjoining of political forces alongside discursive enunciations are crucial to crafting hegemonies of corruption and understandings of political and civil society. I add to this Gramscian understanding of the conjuncture a focus on how residents constitute themselves as agential subjects through discourses of corruption. By focusing on the brewing frustrations of Complexo residents, the paper argues that articulations of corruption materialized an articulated political bloc against which community members could express frustration but also, importantly, constituted a civil society demonstrating a constrained agency. 1. Introduction In December of 2013 a large rainstorm struck Rio de Janeiro that caused fooding in many homes throughout the city. Houses in what are commonly referred to as favelas – often located on the hills of Rio – were at heightened risk. Such was the case on the Morro do Alem˜ ao (the German Hill) in Complexo do Alem˜ ao where, on December 12 and 13, 2013, 85 homes collapsed. But this was not a natural disaster. Many in the community believe that the concrete station for the new gondola system (telef´ erico) sitting atop the Alem˜ ao hill rendered the houses more precarious. Previously the houses near the summit had been nestled close together, offering support to one another on soil that absorbed most of the rainwater. But new infrastructural upgrading projects changed this delicate and always slightly precarious situation. Jo˜ ao 1 was the frst person to share this story with me. Jo˜ ao is affl- iated with a long-standing and well-respected community organization in Complexo do Alem˜ ao (hereafter Complexo), a low-income, largely Afro-Brazilian complex of favelas. For days after my arrival in the community I had been advised by many interlocutors to speak with Jo˜ ao, who is recognized as “a catalyst type of person. [Jo˜ ao] makes everyone move, everyone join.” 2 After 3 min of meeting Jo˜ ao it is not hard to understand why. Lithe and animated, he practically jumps out of his seat with oscillating frustration, anger, and tenacity as he explains the recent government projects that, in some ways, have failed to properly integrate Complexo with the so-called formal city fabric. He speaks quickly in what can only be described as well-rehearsed fashion, having likely given a similar oration to other researchers, activists, and politicians. At one particularly animated moment during discussion of the fooding, Jo˜ ao exhorted: You don’t make a process of urbanization in which you invest bil- lions of reais, without a study of the soil … Houses have mines of E-mail address: carolyn.prouse@queensu.ca. 1 I have used pseudonyms to protect the identity of interviewees. This was a diffcult decision, as many in the community feel silenced by media and researchers and thus want to be recognized for their work. However, due to the current democratic crisis in Brazil, and my own institutional ethics requirements, I have retained the pseudonyms here. 2 Interview with Complexo activist 3, February 2014. 3 Interview with Jo˜ ao, January 2014. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Political Geography journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/polgeo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102305 Received 10 February 2019; Received in revised form 28 July 2020; Accepted 15 October 2020