Between “the favela” and “the city”: exploring the daily geographies of Carolina Maria de Jesus using GIS

Geographic information systems (GIS) enable interesting visual and analytical engagement with personal narratives. I offer a case study by constructing digital historical maps of Carolina Maria de Jesus’s São Paulo as described in her 1950s diary entries from Quarto de Despejo (published as Child of the Dark in English). Examining 48 locations mentioned in the book, I show how GIS algorithms such as standard deviation ellipses and kernel density estimation can summarize geographies of daily activities in the personal, institutional, and professional realms, including in the informal economy. I also employ ideas from feminist cartography to put Carolina’s own words on the map and generate 3D visualizations that explore her perception of urban space and her struggle for basic needs. The analysis indicates that Carolina’s geographies were relatively limited, and that much of her quest for life-sustaining resources took place in mixed-use urban space between the city center and her home in the Canindé favela.