‘Death Squad': Another Category of Social Accumulation of Violence in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

The article is about the evolution of the collective representations of “Death Squad” in Rio de Janeiro and its practices. The argument is that behind the uses of the category there are two modalities of accusation: one that takes form between 1957-1964 and another that emerges by 1968. In the first two parts I describe the context of emergence of the first group so defined by the name of “Death Squad” in Rio and the case that established the definition and its corresponding accusatory operation. Then I analyze the changes in collective representation and their new forms of indictment. Finally, I explore the implications on the thesis of social accumulation of violence and present a comparative picture between the two modalities.