Master or citizen?: Political ontology of self-building in a precarious housing neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro

This article explores the political significance of self-building in a precarious housing neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. Based on twenty months of ethnographic fieldwork in the “irregular subdivision” of Jardim Maravilha, it challenges the dominant interpretation within citizenship and infrastructure studies, which associ-ates self-building with a form of “infrastructural citizenship” or resistance against the hegemonic urban order. Indeed, self-builders do not always perceive themselves as “rights-claiming citizens” but rather as “masters” who defend their autonomy and seek to control their socio-material environment. The article thus distinguishes be-tween, on the one hand, the “progressive ontology” in academic research, which emphasizes struggles for equali-ty, civic participation, and recognition, and, on the other hand, the “domestic ontology” or oikonomia of resi-dents, who interpret the world primarily through their domestic experience. The article examines how this ontol-ogy structures relationships with law, infrastructure, and local institutions, revealing an opportunistic engage-ment with legality, as well as specific forms of collective mobilization based on household interdependence. These relationships are also rooted in a specific social and environmental history, shaped by the experience of the frontier and the threat of cativeiro—the loss of domestic autonomy. Given the limitations of participatory citizenship policies, the article highlights the need to analyze urban margins through the lens of domestic auton-omy, rather than presupposing a form of civic engagement aligned with progressive frameworks.