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Facing the First Command of Capital (PCC): Regarding Ethnography of Brazil’s ‘Biggest Prison Gang’

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Carceral Communities in Latin America

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology ((PSIPP))

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Abstract

The First Command of the Capital first appeared as a type of prisoner’s collective in the early 1990s, and today remains present in almost all prisons and urban areas within the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Over the years that the author of this chapter has dedicated to ethnographic research on this problem, she has developed theoretical and methodological strategies permitting the displacement of some taken-for-granted concepts commonly used in the criminological social sciences. This chapter explores three phases of research, the challenges confronted in each one, and how theoretical and methodological strategies were influenced by the exigencies of prison fieldwork. The chapter draws attention to the ways in which ethnographic research and ethnographic object are mutually constituted, and addresses the broader consequences of this conjugation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Original in French: Le destin s”écrit à mesure qu”il s”accomplit, pas avant.

  2. 2.

    The PCC’s presence in the media was relatively rare and the first book about it would only be written in 2004 by the journalist Josmar Jozino.

  3. 3.

    FEBEM (State Foundation for Minors” Welfare) was the old denomination for juvenile correctional centers managed by the São Paulo State Department of Justice. Their current denomination is Fundação CASA (Socio-Educational Center of Assistance for Adolescents).

  4. 4.

    In prison jargon, maintenance is the name given to a cell holding those prisoners, also called maintenance, responsible for the pavilion’s internal management (comprising tasks such as food delivery, opening the cells, dispute resolution). They also operate as spokespersons between the detainees and the prison officials.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State University of Maranhão, São Luís, Brazil

    Karina Biondi

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  1. Karina Biondi
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Sacha Darke

  2. Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Cumbaya, Ecuador

    Chris Garces

  3. Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Luis Duno-Gottberg

  4. Central University of Venezuela, Caracas, Miranda, Venezuela

    Andrés Antillano

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Biondi, K. (2021). Facing the First Command of Capital (PCC): Regarding Ethnography of Brazil’s ‘Biggest Prison Gang’. In: Darke, S., Garces, C., Duno-Gottberg, L., Antillano, A. (eds) Carceral Communities in Latin America. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61499-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61499-7_17

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