Grandmothers who raise: intergenerational care relationships in Rio’s favelas

Abstract

This article examines the central role of grandmothers in everyday childcare in peripheral neighborhoods and favelas, based on research conducted in the northern zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In a context of declining fertility rates and demographic change, peripheral territories continue to exhibit comparatively high birth rates, including among adolescents, and are also marked by the limited provision of care infrastructure offered by the state, which further complicates caregiving arrangements for young children. Within this scenario, the study investigates the prominent role of extended-family care — specifically care provided by grandmothers — focusing on their life trajectories, their relationships with grandchildren, and the everyday dynamics of caregiving. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 11 grandmothers residing in the northern zone of Rio de Janeiro, the article analyzes how childrearing arrangements led by these women emerge under conditions of socioeconomic precarity, particularly in family contexts shaped by unplanned pregnancies. It argues that the care performed by these grandmothers has ambivalent effects: on the one hand, it produces significant burdens related to labor, responsibility, and emotional strain; on the other, it mobilizes regimes of hope and futurity oriented toward the well-being and social mobility of their grandchildren. By examining more closely the life histories of four interlocutors, the article illustrates both the intensity of caregiving work and the agency exercised by these women in sustaining family life and negotiating expectations for their grandchildren’s futures. The analysis is situated in dialogue with feminist and intersectional theories of care and reproductive politics, highlighting how gender, class, and generational inequalities shape contemporary arrangements of childrearing in urban peripheries.