A volume in Advances in Cultural Psychology
Series Editor: Jaan Valsiner, Clark University
This book covers the results of investigation of social realities and their public representation in Brazilian
poor communities, with a particular emphasis on the use of cultural tools to survive and create psychological
and social novelty under conditions of severe poverty. A relevant part of it brings together the multi-faceted
evidence of a decade of research concentrated in two particular low-income areas in the city of Salvador da
Bahia, Brazil. Other studies conducted in other Brazilian areas and in Cali, Colombia are included.
In contrast to most representations of poverty in the social sciences which create a "calamity story" of the
lives of poor people, the coverage in this book is meant to balance the focus on harsh realities with the
cultural-psychological resiliency of individuals and families under poverty.