A large group of young people are cosplaying as their favorite characters. Others are wearing T-shirts with similar motifs and bright, colorful hair. This scene is typical to many conventions around the globe, but here in São Paulo, it’s different. Many of the attendees are Black and brown Brazilians. Their slang and mannerisms demonstrate a collective pride in their communities, which also happen to be some of the most disenfranchised neighborhoods in the region.
This is from Perifacon, a growing convention started in 2019 devoted to geek and gamer culture in Brazil. The target audience of Perifacon are people from impoverished neighborhoods and favelas away from the more affluent areas in and around São Paulo.
The Brazilian Portuguese slang perifa derives from the word periferia, or “outskirts,” and is the language equivalent of “hood” or “ghetto.” Perifacon is nicknamed “the favela Comic Con” and exemplifies a future for Brazilian geek culture and its larger market.
The idea for Perifacon came from a group of seven Black youngsters hailing from the outskirts of the city: Andreza Delgado, Igor Nogueira, Mateus Ramos, Matheus Polito, Luíze Tavares, Gabrielly Oliveira, and Pedro Okuyama. Oliveira, Tavares, Nogueira, and Delgado represent it as partners, while the latter is responsible for managing the business of Perifacon.
“Looking back, I feel a lot of tenderness for creating Perifacon,” recalls Delgado in a phone interview with WIRED. “I feel the same way about my story, as I’ve always been a nerd, going to LAN houses, I’ve always read Turma da Mônica,” she says, referring to spaces where you can rent a computer by the hour and one of Brazil’s most popular comic books, also known as Monica’s Gang. She’s also read books “based on Ayrton Senna, because when people think about nerds, images of Marvel and DC are the first to come to mind. But the Brazilian titles are also very nerdy things.”
The 2023 year marked Perifacon’s third iteration, drawing 13,000 people on July 30 at the Centro de Formação Cultural Cidade Tiradentes, on the east side of the city known for its working-class roots. There was no entrance fee, and the event featured the participation of major brands like Netflix and Warner Bros.
Delgado sees the convention as not only promoting people and their creations, but also boosting underprivileged and Afro-Brazilian communities. Perifacon also provides a bridge from less lucrative work to possible positions in major companies. Still, the convention is not devoid of roadblocks to success.
“The obstacles that Perifacon faces are based on investments. It demands a lot of hard work from the financial aspect. We advanced a lot but … even after five years of Perifa we are still dealing with lack of support from them, even considering that we have a loyal fanbase,” says Delgado.
Another blow came with the Covid-19 pandemic. Perifacon was cancelled in 2020, and its second edition in 2021 was virtual. The pandemic ravaged Brazil, and especially impoverished areas. According to a Johns Hopkins University study, Brazil was fifth in global infections and second in overall death rates. Based on a 2019 United Nations report, Brazil is one of the most socially inequitable nations on earth.
“The [convention] scene was very restricted, and then it gained a new horizon,” attests Perifacon regular Eduardo “Du” Marques. Marques, who is Black, is deep into geek culture and hails from the Jardim Robrú neighborhood, east of the city.
Marques recounts that he was amazed to meet and interact with artists, game developers, and new generations of nerds from his part of the city. He was also thrilled that so many of them are working on ideas while also cosplaying “with many smiles on their faces,” he explains.
“It is beautiful to see a big affirmation space like Perifacon.”
The convention is not restricted to gaming and cosplaying, either. Perifacon gives space “to music, visual arts, theater, TV shows, movies, and literature. It opens doors for the whole city to look at and enjoy what we’ve been consuming. Events like this change lives,” says Marques.
Professor Daniela Osvald Ramos from the Arts and Communications School at the University of São Paulo (USP) agrees that Perifacon pulls the eyes of the mainstream to underground production, and in the process keeps away from the usual stereotypes of poverty and racism.
She adds that the name itself acts as vindication for the communities it serves, and the event invites “the central gentrified areas to look to the outskirts and see that everything that happens in downtown and in the white rich uptown also happens there,” she says. “The market can see how absent it has been in those areas, and the market doesn’t want to be absent in any territory.”
In 2022, I interviewed journalist Mariana Ayrez, who opened my eyes to the relevance of Perifacon. She reiterated that “while other events promote pop culture and bring together artists and the public, they have a lot of incentive from private business players. Meanwhile, Perifacon delivers geek culture, love, and fun to all involved independent of their budget. Their main goal is accessibility.”
Delgado believes that while Perifacon calls attention to social inequality, it also promotes artists from those marginalized communities and showcases their products to a public that wants them and can’t get them in any other way. Favela influence is everywhere in Brazilian art, culture, and sports.
“The favela is the powerhouse that people already know. However, brands and enterprises are still after the same profile of people that already have access to everything. We know this because of the lack of support to unfavored areas,” Ayrez explains.
Meanwhile, for the young people growing up in the favelas, the convention is an event to look forward to. “Perifacon is everything that the 12-year-old Eduardo dreamed of being part of, as he grew up being bullied for liking ‘weird’ things,” says Marques.
“My experiences outside the hood with people from other social classes showed me how prejudice operates in a systematic way, he says. “The simple fact that I come from the favela and I like comics fascinated the rich kids. My experiences as a nerd were marked by a series of contradictions, stereotypes, and conflicting images. However, at the same time, it is an honor to be able to affirm myself as a hood nerd even with those setbacks.”
Delgado and her colleagues have plans to keep Perifacon going, and to expand access to tech and gaming in the future to the communities that need it the most. “My dream is to take Perifacon to other Brazilian states and that we’ll be invited by the local authorities to work toward it. I’d take Perifacon to any place in Brazil.”
Meanwhile, Ayrez expects the event will grow to the point that the brands and private sector actors will compete to see who can support it. “I hope that they keep this amazing work that discovers talents in each edition, that brings joy to many people who for many reasons can’t go to the mainstream events.”
Ramos cites the work of Hong Kong philosopher Yuk Hui and his concept of technodiversity as one way of thinking about what the team wants to do with Perifacon. “I think that Perifacon is part of a movement of a non-colonized innovation that, in the future, may become part of the overall cultural industry,” she says. The convention will ultimately become a product on its own, but one that shows the world that “besides gaming and nerd culture, the favela has untapped talent in fashion, cuisine, and so on.”
