Dynamics of collective action in contexts of violence, poverty and inequality

• Grant number: 11/24013-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: June 27, 2012
• End date: June 26, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Behavior
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Ferreira Tatagiba
• Grantee: Luciana Ferreira Tatagiba
• Host Investigator: Jenny Pearce
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Bradford, England

Abstract

The advances in the research agenda on the issue of participation are evident in Brazil. We currently have a qualified and diversified production that combines the deep knowledge of cases and an increasing investment towards theoretical generalization. Starting by the existing accumulated knowledge, this project aims to take a step further, establishing a dialogue between the participation agenda and the problems related to the conformation of collective action in contexts characterized by violence, poverty and inequality. In scenarios where the axes of class, race and gender are combined in a perverse way, feeding back the cycle of violence and stigmatization, what is the possibility of experiencing politics as a practice of collective negotiation and peaceful resolution of conflicts? In these highly unfavorable scenarios, how do individuals and collectives that seek to intervene in power relations and interact with public institutions act, in order to improve life conditions in their localities? The research has an exploratory nature, and its methodological strategy consists in recovering the trajectory and the experiences of collective action among young activists of the district of Bradford, located in the North of England. Bradford is a post-industrial multi-ethnic city, marked by a strong process of deindustrialization and intense immigration, mainly of Pakistanis and Indians. The rising unemployment, poverty and crime rates are among the highest in the UK, and are mainly concentrated in the territories occupied by immigrants. It is primarily in these locations that I intend to focus my research, trying to recover, from the narrative of young activists, the threads that weave the experience of collective action in segregated areas. (AU)