Ethnographic work in Morro do Bumba, a slum located in Viçoso Jardim, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. Despite being initially motivated by an interest in the landslides that occurred in 2010, as well as in the actions of the State and the press coverage, the focus of the dissertation has changed as the research in the field progressed. Based upon political manifestations and everyday situations, this text aims to rethink if certain concepts and ideas used to think our society actually go as far as we believe them to do. Individual, risk, State, contravention, money and politics are some of the categories that in Morro do Bumba happen differently than it is usually expected by the official discourses. Living alongside the locals and observing, the ethnographer asks himself: where the State and the press see only necessity and misery, is it impossible to see also differences that resist to the civilizational processes that try to shape our society? When refusing certain kind of thoughts about the electoral process, when avoiding certain health, security and law institutions or when people choose spontaneity when some would expect precaution and see only noise, is it possible to notice the affirmation of a discourse?