• Directories
    • Business Directory
    • Church Directory
    • Organization Directory
  • Advertise
  • Donate
  • Help
  • Log In
MENUMENU
  • Learning
        • Leader’s Edge
          • Author Interviews
          • Book Summaries
        • Book Reviews
          • Book Look
          • EMQ Book Reviews
        • Publications
          • Anthology
          • Evangelical Missions Quarterly (EMQ)
          • Missiographics
        • Podcasts
          • The Mission MattersNew
          • Missio Nexus
          • People First HR
          • Members Only Feed
        • Blogs
          • Global Issues Updates
          • Member Highlights
          • Mission Advisors
        • Topics
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Diaspora Missions
          • Mobilization
          • Muslim Missions
          • Support Raising
        • Media Library
          • Conferences
          • Global Issue Updates
          • On Mission
          • Thought Leader Briefings
          • Webinars
          • Workshop
          • View All
  • Programs
    • Accreditation
    • Alliance for Benefits
    • Bible CertificateNew
    • Church Missions Coaching
    • Cohorts
    • Cybersecurity
    • ImproveNew
    • Mission Jobs
    • Publish
    • RightNow Media
    • The Mission App
    • Women’s Development
  • Events
          • Calendar
          • In-Person Events
          • Virtual Events
          • Event Recordings
          • Awards
        • Premier Events
          • Mission Leaders Conference
          • On Mission
        • Upcoming Events

          • Women In Leadership - Special Events
            Fri Mar 5 2021
          • On Mission 2021
            Wed Mar 10 2021, 12:00pm EST
          • Four Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Fundraising
            Tue Mar 16 2021, 03:00pm EDT
        • View All Events
  • Research
          • Missiographics
          • Mission Handbook
          • Research Reports
        • Popular Research
          • Compensation Reports
          • COVID-19 ResourcesNew
          • Field Attrition Report
          • View All Reports
        • Contribute
          • Current Research Projects
          • Submit Data for Mission Handbook
          • Volunteer
  • About Us
        • Who We Are
          • Our Contribution
          • Meet the Team
          • Board Members
          • History (1917–present)
        • Our Beliefs
          • Statement of Faith
          • Community Standards
        • Awards
        • Partner with Us
          • Advertise
          • Donate
          • Sponsorships
          • Volunteer
        • Help
          • Contact Us
          • Advertising Specs
          • Branding Guidelines
  • Join
        • Learn
        • Learn what you cannot learn anywhere else.

        • Meet
        • Meet people you otherwise won’t meet.

        • Engage
        • Engage in a community like none other.

          • Benefits
          • Benefits for Churches
          • Pricing

Sponsored Content

Upcoming Events

  • Women In Leadership - Special Events
    Fri Mar 5 2021
  • On Mission 2021
    Wed Mar 10 2021, 12:00pm EST
  • Four Things Every CEO Needs to Know About Fundraising
    Tue Mar 16 2021, 03:00pm EDT
  • Webinar: Mission Increase: Discovering the Joy of Biblical Generosity
    Thu Mar 18 2021, 02:00pm EDT
  • Peer 2 Peer for Marketing and Communications Staff: Know Yourself and Know Your Audience
    Tue Mar 23 2021, 02:00pm EDT

View all events »

Topics

author interview Canada CEO Church Church Missions Church Mission Team Church Planting Conference Proceedings COVID-19 Cross Cultural Skills Diaspora Evangelism Focus Future Innovation Islam Justin Long Leadership Management Missiology Missionaries Mission Finance and Administration MLC2019 MLC2020 MLC2021 Mobilization muslim Muslim Diaspora Networks Partnership Personal Productivity Podcast Presenter Research Security Short-Term Missions Spirituality support raising Training Trends Unengaged Unreached unreached people groups Weekly Roundup Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Dancing with the Devil in the City of God: Rio de Janeiro on the Brink

Posted on October 1, 2016 by October 1, 2016

by Juliana Barbassa

Touchstone, 2015.

 src=

— Reviewed by David Allen Bledsoe, missionary in Brazil (IMB, SBC) in the area of training; visiting professor of missions.

Julian Barbassa, then-correspondent for The Associated Press and a native Brazilian, writes about her return to her “passport country” in 2010 to the city of Rio de Janeiro as it prepared for and hosted the 2014 World Cup. While noting past accomplishments and economic growth, she focuses on Rio’s entrenched inequalities and other perils which stood in its way to successfully showcase the games and overcome its more infamous characteristics.

Barbassa possesses certain traits which facilitated her (re)entry and research insights. First, she comes from a Brazilian family and her parents and other relatives still reside in the city. Second, she rightfully bears the title of third-culture kid (TCK)—she grew up in an expatriate family returning to Brazil for vacations and transitional periods. Last, her academic pursuits landed her in the United States, where she presently lives. Thus, she benefits from the combination of assessing Brazil as an insider and, with the experience that comes from exposure to other peoples and contexts, as an outsider.

Barbassa’s research theme centered on the changes that city and national officials aimed to implement before hosting the World Cup. She wonders if the changes would be merely a superficial veneer or, as she articulates (pg. xxiii), lead to “a transformation that would go to the core, reforming the violence and inequality that had historically hobbled the city?”

The author cites other urban maladies such as well-established drug cartels, an often-crooked and unchecked police force, an overextended infrastructure, a government racked with nepotism and corruption, as well as inefficient and insufficient public services. Barbassa unfolds the events, advances, and dramas in Rio and the nation as the population neared the start of the World Cup, as well as the disappointing finale for the Brazilian national team.

One might ask, “Why publish a book review on a Latin American city and soccer in a Christian journal of missions?” The answer reveals my motivation for recommending the book.

First, the history, interviews, and description of Rio’s people and their plight offer insights into Brazilian culture and similar urban Global South contexts; thus, Christian workers as well as those studying missiology or cultural anthropology will find the work beneficial for applied theology.

Second, Barbassa unveils some of the deep-rooted dilemmas which hinder poor and developing nations from advancing; solutions to such obstacles often are not simple and straightforward. Finally, the book gives prospective missionaries and NGO workers clues of what they will discover in comparable contexts after adequate acculturation and understanding of social structures.

After seventeen years of ministry in an urban Brazilian setting, I found Barbassa’s text applicable to his ministry and contributed further to his understanding of the Brazilian society. While not written for a Christian audience, the book will provide assistance to those who serve the Church in urban Global South contexts, particularly in Latin America.

Check these titles:

Grudem, Wayne and Barry Asmus. 2013. The Poverty of the Nations: A Sustainable Solution. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway.

LeDuff, Charlie. 2013. Detroit: An American Autopsy. New York: Penguin Press.

Perlman, Janice. 2010. Favelas: Four Decades of Living on the Edge in Rio de Janeiro. New York: Oxford.

GoToOlder PostNewer PostAll PostsBook ReviewsEMQSectionVolume 52 - Issue 4

Comments are closed.

Subscribe to Our Mailing List

Keep up to date with our community.

Menu

  • Join
  • Directories
  • Events
  • Donate

About

  • Who We Are
  • Statement of Faith
  • Awards
  • Resources

Help

  • Contact Us
  • Terms
  • Cookies Policy

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Google+

PO Box 398
Wheaton, IL 60187-0398

Phone: 770.457.6677
678.392.4577

© Missio Nexus.
All Rights Reserved.

Membership website powered by MembershipWorks