NGOs and domestic violence against the black woman: an "intersectional" and communicative action theory approach

• Grant number: 11/11936-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Effective date (Start): October 01, 2011
• Effective date (End): September 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Anthropology of Afro-Brazilian Populations
• Principal Investigator: Heloisa Buarque de Almeida
• Grantee: Rocío Alonso Lorenzo
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Gender studies and human rights discourses recognize that gender and race discriminations are not mutually excluding. However, making such "intersections" visible and situating them strategically in the day-to-day social intervention of non-governmental organizations is a challenge. This project seeks to analize ethnographically the project Popular Legal Promoters (PLPs) developed in São Paulo by Geledés - The Black Woman Institute. PLPs are community leaders enabled by Geledés who listen and give advice and orientation to other women on how to get access to the law when their rights are threatened. The project uses Jürgen Habermas's communicative action theory with the attempt to understand how discursive procedures, institutionalized in the context of NGOs political action, can subvert normatively assured family dynamics where, at the same time, ethnic-racial and class belonging intensify violence occurrence.